Anymore Than A Dream
by WhatsUpMeg
Summary: She was an overindulged fifteen year old from a rich family. A mistake landed her on the wrong flight and she soon found herself stranded on an island full of boys where she happened to be the only female. She's torn between two options: Civilized or savage? The fact that there are two boys from the opposing sides after her just complicates matters.
1. Chapter 1

I raised my elbows over my face, desperately attempting to navigate my way through the crowd, who were swarming around like bees in a hive. There was an emergency evacuation due to the atomic war and it seemed like the whole country was in this damned airport. I followed closely behind my parents, not wanting to lose sight of them. I'd never even been in an airport before, never mind on a plane. The three of us were almost at the gateway, when my parents were called by airport security. I tried to follow them, but I felt a hand on my back pushing me forwards, towards the daunting gateway. The wrong gateway.

"This way Miss! You're disrupting people. Go through quickly or you'll miss your flight!" I turned and saw a woman who I presume was an air hostess. She wore too much makeup and her red lipstick made her teeth look yellow. I hoped mine didn't do the same. I was snapped out of my absent-minded thoughts when I saw that she was guiding me out of the airport and into a plane before I could even open my mouth.

"But this isn't my flight! My parents are here- they're just talking to that man. They'll be looking for me," I protested, getting dragged into the plane.

"You'll see them soon." She looked me over, from my neat, shiny black shoes, to my ruby red dress, up to my tight brunette curls with a ruby red bow to match the dress. "I'm sure parents like yours will make sure you're well provided for- and this is an emergency situation after all." She made a horrible clicking noise, "we're at war and this is no light matter." She said it slowly, as if dumbing it down so that I would understand.

"But where is this flight even going? You don't even know my parents."

"All flights are going to the same place, sweetie."

"But _where_ is the same place?" My protests were unheard as I was guided to a seat. The woman gave a tight smile and left, after ruffling my hair and much to my annoyance, probably messing up my curls.

I sighed loudly, still clutching my faded pink suitcase, unaware of my surroundings. I groaned, hiding my anxiousness through anger. I lowered my suitcase to the ground, placing it cautiously beside my feet, took a deep breath and inconspicuously scanned the plane's passengers. No adults was the first thing I noticed, except of course, the staff. Next, there didn't appear to be any other girls. Every single passenger appeared to be a boy, some around my age, some slightly older, some as young as about five. I was fifteen. They were all wearing school uniforms, all the same school. So not only was I the only girl, but I was the only one who didn't know anybody.

Oh well, it was only for a few hours. Then I would be with my parents again.

I heard a cough beside me and suddenly remembered that I wasn't alone in the aisle. I turned and saw a fair-haired boy smiling timidly at me.

"I don't mean to sound rude, but what are you doing on this flight?" he asked, looking at me with gleaming green eyes.

"Honestly, I haven't got a clue." I offered a half-hearted smile, but honestly I just wasn't in the mood for conversation.

He looked at me, presumably hoping for me to expand and give some sort of an explanation. "I was with my parents and we were just walking through the airport, but they got called by security for some reason. Bloody airport was far too crowded and I couldn't even go with them," I huffed. "Then next thing I know, some woman is pushing me onto this plane, not listening to a word I'm saying. She treated me like a street rat, said I was getting in the way. She just wanted to get rid of me. I mean, can she even do that?"

 _Apparently, I was in the mood for talking after all._

I realised I had been looking down the entire way through my rant, tugging at the skirt of my dress. I looked back at the boy and saw that he was still watching me. "Sorry," I muttered, biting my lip. "Just stressed out I suppose. I didn't mean to sound like a brat."

He gave a light chuckle. "You don't, I get it. Sorry for bringing up such a sensitive subject."

I opened my mouth to give a sarcastic reply to his over-worriedness, but I saw a smirk on his face and noticed him failing to stifle a laugh. His laughter was infectious and I couldn't resist joining in. "That's quite alright, however I may have to get my own back eventually- Just thought I should warn you," I smirked. I was not about to be outsmarted by a boy.

"Oh really? May I at least know the name of my possible tormentor then?"

"Audrey," I smiled. "And my tormentee?"

"Ralph."

* * *

Ralph and I talked until roughly an hour into the flight, when I brought out my copy of Wuthering Heights and began to read it over again. It was a controversial book, but secretly I think that drew me to it more.

I heard loud snoring and angrily snapped my book closed, turning around. I looked at Ralph, but saw that he was awake. I traced the source of the snoring to the seat in front of me. I looked at Ralph, raising my eyebrows, he simply shrugged in response. "Wake him up," I ordered. Ralph complied, leaning forward and poking the boy's head.

"She wants you," Ralph told him with a smirk. The boy poked his head up from his seat and looked at me questioningly. He wasn't dressed in the same uniform as Ralph, instead he was wearing a black robe and a square black cap with a silver badge on it.

I gave him my sweetest smile, "What's your name?"

"Maurice," he replied, grinning sheepishly. "What 'bout you, beautiful?"

I resisted the urge to visibly cringe. "I'm Audrey," I answered in my most saccharine tone. "Hey Maurice, could you be a darling and do me a huge favour?" I smiled at him, blinking innocently.

"Anything," he breathed.

"Shut. Up." I answered, turning my head sharply and opening my book again to resume reading.

I could see his dumbfounded look from the corner of my eye, causing me to smile slightly, particularly when I heard Ralph laughing and a few boys near us excitedly whispering.

I felt tapping on my back, so I closed my book and put it back into my suitcase, then turned around. The seats were too tall to easily see who was behind me, so I sat up on my knees and poked my head up to see who had tapped me. It was a boy with crimson-coloured hair and steely blue eyes. He was wearing the same as Maurice, nly the badge on his cap was Gold. There was a smirk playing on his lips as he looked at me, and his blue eyes burned with roguery. "May I help you?" I asked, breaking the silence.

"Did you tell Maurice to shut up?" _I swear, if Maurice is his 'buddy' and he's about to give me a 'talking to', I am seriously going to punch him. Or get Ralph to._

He snorted with laughter. "Nice. He needed shutting up." I smiled in response, pleased that I wasn't getting a 'talking to'. "So what's your name anyway?"

"What's it to you?" I rebuffed. Sure he was cute, but he seemed like trouble even just from the look in his eyes.

"Well it's not everyday that I get to sit near a cute girl," he replied flirtatiously. "Especially in a school where the closest thing to a pretty girl is Ralph," he added, sniggering.

I turned to see Ralph's reaction, but he just rolled his eyes. He was sitting properly, facing the seat in front of him, so Jack didn't see his response. I covered my mouth to try and muffle my laughter, but it seemed to be unsuccessful, just making my amusement more obvious. I shook my head at the crimson-haired boy and turned back around to speak to Ralph again.

"You really won't tell me your name?" the boy's voice called from behind.

I smiled to myself. "Not unless you tell me yours first."

"Jack."

"Audrey."

I looked to Ralph pleadingly and he grinned in response. "Tired of getting bugged by him?" he asked teasingly, in a lowered voice to keep Jack from eavesdropping.

I caught on and also spoke in a quiet voice, "Nowhere near as enjoyable as talking to you."

"Glad to hear it," he grinned, his green eyes gleaming with good nature.

* * *

"Do you feel that?" I asked Ralph after some time had passed.

"The shaking?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

I nodded.

"It's just turbulence, no need to be afraid."

"Do I _look_ afraid?"

"Yes." _Maybe because I was._

I gave him my best withering glare, but he simply shook his head and asked if I had been on a plane before.

"Of course I've been on a plane,"I replied, feigning confidence. My ears were popping like mad. _Gee, I wish I had some gum._

He looked at me dubiously and made a remark about my anxiousness.

I was about to reply, when the shaking got worse. "This is not normal. I'll bet I've been on planes much more than you have and I ensure you that this isn't supposed to be happening." I was getting flustered. I tended to lie when I got flustered. As I already said, I'd never been on a plane before and that was probably transparent.

He didn't seem inclined to respond, but he didn't have to. There was a voice telling us something through a megaphone, my head was spinning too much to hear. Oxygen masks were lowered down and before I could even think to put one on, I felt someone putting one on for me.

My mind was foggy, everything was blurry and I felt dizzy.

What was happening?

* * *

 **A/N**

So what did you think? Feedback would be appreciated and I'm open to any ideas for how this should go. I've also aged the characters up for the purposes of this story. Anyway, please review, follow, favourite and all that. Thanks for reading! xxx


	2. Chapter 2

I woke up lying on the ground with sand in my mouth. I hurriedly spat it out, urgently rubbing it off my tongue. I sat up, rubbing my eyes, looking around and trying to remember what had happened. I had been sitting on a plane beside… what was his name? The fair haired boy with the glittering green eyes. I couldn't recall his name, or what exactly had happened, but I remembered his face. One minute I was on a plane… there was turbulence… then I was lying on sand with waves crashing onto me. Had the plane crashed? It was the only plausible explanation I could come up with, however even that seemed inconceivable. Or just really, _really_ unlucky.

First, I get separated from my parents, shoved onto the wrong plane, then, said plane crashes, leaving me lying on the sand, with nobody else in sight. I stood up. No point in moping about things when I could be searching for people or resources.

I started walking along the beach when I banged straight into someone, knocking myself to the ground. His feet remained planted on the ground and he extended a hand to help me up. I took it and smiled when I saw it was the boy from the plane.

"Well, fancy seeing you here," he smiled.

I was about to scold him for smiling in a situation like this, but, not wanting to be grumpy, I simply shrugged and with a smirk, replied, "You come here often?"

He laughed, "have you seen anybody else?"

"I'm afraid—" I started to reply, but was interrupted by a chubby boy waddling towards us in an odd stumbling run. He had light, straight hair and glasses that touched the tip of his nose.

"Hey! Won't you two wait for me?" He panted, slowly getting closer to where we were standing.

"Look at the fatty," the green eyed boy sniggered, elbowing me lightly and gesticulating towards the approaching boy.

I let out a small laugh, then quickly covered my mouth, scolding myself. "That's not very nice," I reprimanded, "how would you like it if someone was teasing you?" Right after I'd said it, I realised that Ralph had probably never been teased in his life. What would anyone even have to tease him about? _Hey, your eyes are too green. Hey, you look too much like a Greek God._

He looked down to his feet, seemingly unable to wipe the smirk from his face. "You laughed though, don't deny it Audrey- I saw you." He looked up at me with a cute grin on his face.

I shushed him as the boy caught up to us.

"That was quite a crash," he started. "I knew it was going to crash as soon as that horrendous shaking started. My auntie says—"

He was cut off by the green- eyed boy. "Sucks to your auntie! We have to find more people, not listen to what your auntie says." I was shocked by the bullying behaviour from the mild-mannered boy from the plane.

The boy with glasses frowned for a moment, then quickly smiled again and continued talking. "Alright then, I s'pose you're right. Wots your name anyway?" he asked, turning to us both.

"Ralph," the green-eyed boy answered, extending a hand which the boy with glasses shook.

"I'm Audrey, nice to meet you," I greeted, extending a hand like Ralph had done. To my surprise, the boy took my hand and kissed it, causing me to jump at the shock, feeling the heat rise to my cheeks. _God, I must be scarlet._ "What about you?" I asked, trying to divert from my embarrassment as I subtly wiped my hand on the skirt of my dress.

"I don't mind what you call me," he answered. "So long as it's not what they used to call me back at school…"

"What was that?" Ralph asked, unable to resist his curiosity.

The boy lowered his eyes, his cheeks flooding with colour. I elbowed Ralph for his thoughtlessness, seeing the poor boy's embarrassment. He noticed this and timidly answered, "Well… you both won't tell nobody will you?"

"You have my word," I smiled. Admittedly, I also wanted to know the mysterious nickname. Ralph nodded as a reply.

"They called me… They called me Piggy," he said, looking completely and utterly shamefaced.

"Piggy!" Ralph cried, howling with laughter. "Piggy!" He started doing a juvenile, childish dance, repeating "piggy" continuously in a sing-song voice.

"Ralph!" I scolded. _I suppose boys will be boys, even Ralph._ He stopped his idiotic dance and looked at me, then at Piggy. I swear I saw remorse in his face, but Piggy looked like he was about to cry. Without really thinking, I hugged the poor boy, trying to provide him with some comfort. I could almost feel his slight smile against my shoulders.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I won't tell anybody," Ralph said, looking at us both, his green eyes burning with some unknown emotion. I released Piggy from the embrace, hoping that Ralph's words cheered him up.

"Thanks," Piggy muttered.

Ralph walked ahead of us, tugging my arm to bring me beside him. I could hear Piggy say something as he walked behind us, but honestly, I couldn't find it in me to care to know what on earth he was talking about. I was trying to be nice to him, but he truly was irritating. Ralph suddenly halted, pulled off his shirt and before I could question him, dived into the clear blue water. Piggy and I looked into the water until Ralph's head poked up, a devilish grin spread wide across his mouth.

"You two stiffs coming in?" He asked teasingly.

"My auntie says I shouldn't swim on account of my asthma," Piggy replied.

"Ass-mar?" Ralph asked, squinting his eyes. "Sucks to your ass-mar!" He lazily kicked about in the water while looking at us both, silently tempting us to come in. "Audrey?" he asked.

"Alright, but I'm not taking my dress off," I replied, crossing my arms jokingly.

He laughed "Okay, jump in and I'll catch you," he offered, swimming closer to where I was standing and extending his arms.

"I _can_ swim you know- I don't have ass-mar," I countered with a smirk. Piggy sat down, looking like he regretted ever bringing his ass-mar up in the first place.

"Catching you would be fun," he smiled. "And everyone knows that girls can't swim that well."

"We can so!" I countered.

"Prove it," he smirked, and so I jumped into his outstretched arms, giggling as Ralph got splashed with water due to my sudden jump. "Told you I would catch you."

"You can't even swim that good Ralph," Piggy huffed, "so there's no need to be teasing me- or her."

"That's poppycock! Besides, you're one to talk, just sitting there," Ralph argued, clearing insulted. "And I can swim, my father's in the navy and he taught me." He was clearly proud of that. My father wouldn't ever fight in the war; he was some sort of general or "war genius". I don't know the official title, but it's oh so important and respectable and really, all he does is think up different ways to kill people. He wouldn't like that description.

I squirmed my way out of Ralph's arms while he was arguing with Piggy and swam out a little by myself. I suddenly felt something on my foot, so I dived under to see what the mysterious item was. I picked it up and swam up so that I could inspect it. It was some sort of shell, big and cream-coloured.

"Where'd you get the conch Audrey?" Piggy asked, his attention diverted from his conversation with Ralph.

"Hm?" I mumbled in response, my attention belonging to the strange, cream-coloured shell. I eventually swam back to the surface and handed the shell to Piggy to examine, he seemed fascinated by it.

"I was right, 'tis a conch! I seen one just like it before, on someone's back wall. He used to blow it, it made a sound and then his mum would come!" The excitement was clear in Piggy's voice. I suppose he had the comfort of finding something that reminded him of home. Or knowing something we didn't.

I hadn't noticed Ralph getting out of the water, but next thing I knew he was snatching the conch from Piggy. "So you blow into it?"

"Well my auntie said—"

I interjected, unsure if I could bear hearing anymore of what his auntie said. "So, if we blow it, it'll make a sound. Then if there are others from the crash, they'll hear it and come to us."

"We can have a meeting and discuss what to do!" Piggy suggested enthusiastically. "However, I can't blow it. My auntie says I have to keep my breath on account of my asthma."

"Sucks to your ass-mar," Ralph repeated and proceeded to blow into the conch, although the only sound it emitted was a strange sort of fart noise, causing him to break out into joyous laughter. Piggy joined in and I could only shake my head. It amused them so much that Ralph continued to make the fart noises for several minutes- each time it was apparently equally as funny.

"So how did your friend make the conch sound right?" I asked impatiently, attempting to bring them back to the task at hand.

"He kind of spat."

Ralph pursed his lips and squirted air into the shell. Nothing.

"He blew from his diaphragm."

Piggy received a blank look from Ralph.

"That means here, dummy," I chided impatiently, placing my hand over the general area where his diaphragm would be.

Ralph got the idea and blew the shell with air from his diaphragm. A deep, loud noise was emitted from the shell immediately. It must have been able to be heard from all over the island, and I couldn't help being in awe of the magnificent sound. Ralph removed it from his mouth, took a breath and repeated the blow; this one even louder than the last.

"I betcha can hear that for miles," Piggy awed.

Ralph gave a few quicker, short blows, then stopped, looking over at me and smiling widely. He held the conch proudly in his hands.

Ralph was sweet, but he could be pushy. It was I who had found the conch, and he had snatched it from Piggy's grasp before he even knew that he couldn't blow it due to his ass-mar. I also certainly didn't appreciate his unwillingness to accept that I was just as capable as he was. However, I did enjoy talking to him and it felt oddly nice when he'd caught me; although I would never tell him that.

"There's one!" I pointed out excitedly, pointing to a child walking towards us from the jungle. As he approached us, I decided that he must only be about six. He was small and looked sweet, innocent and terrified.

"Where's the man with the trumpet?" he asked, trembling.

"No man, just us," Ralph answered. "And this," he added, holding up the conch.

The boy's lower lip trembled and he seemed about to cry. I brought him closer to me and knelt down so that I could speak to him eye to eye. "It's alright, we're here and I bet there will be lots more people coming soon, probably some your age too." I gave him the most reassuring smile I could muster, but considering the fact that I myself was terrified, I'm unsure about how reassuring it actually was. "What's your name?"

"Henry."

"That's a great name. I'm Audrey, this is Ralph and-"

"That's Piggy," Ralph finished with a laugh.

Henry looked unsure of what to do, but when he saw Ralph laughing, he copied, not knowing exactly why he was laughing.

"There's more people," Piggy pointed to an approaching crowd. There were a lot of them and it seemed to be most of the passengers from the plane.

They approached and everyone introduced themselves; we were just about to start the meeting when singing could be heard. Everyone's head turned to the source of the music and that was when we saw an organised line of choir boys approaching. The one in front had fiery red hair and something about him almost made the entire remaining choir unnoticeable. It was Jack.


	3. Chapter 3

"Who blew the trumpet?" The red-headed leader asked, repeating Henry's mistake.

"No trumpet, just a shell," Ralph replied, stepping forwards. "And it was me."

"Choir, stay standing," the red-headed boy commanded, stepping slightly apart from them and looking right at Ralph, staring him up and down.

"But Jack—"

"Can't we just sit?"

"Please?"

" _Shut up,"_ Jack bit angrily.

They were immediately silenced.

"I uh.." Ralph began. "I thought we should get everyone together and have a meeting, you know, figure out what to do—"

He was interrupted when one of the smaller boys in the choir collapsed, falling to the ground with a sudden thud. He had coarse black hair that carelessly hung over his face, almost completely concealing his forehead and eyes so bright that I presumed he must be mischievous. A few boys from the choir broke out of formation, rushing over to attend to the unconscious boy, making sure that he was alright. I considered joining them, but I didn't want to overcrowd the boy so I stayed standing slightly behind Ralph, just enough so that I wasn't easily noticeable.

"Choir _,_ get back. Leave him, he's always throwing fits," Jack ordered harshly.

"Shouldn't you make sure he's alright?" Piggy asked timidly, nervously fiddling with the buttons of his shirt.

Jack evidently wasn't pleased at being questioned. "Who asked you fatty?" He smiled smugly, seemingly pleased with his remark.

"He's not fatty, he's Piggy!" Ralph cried with laughter, the rest of the boys joined in the laughter, chanting "Piggy!" over and over and over again. It may have been funny between the three of us, but there was no need to tell everybody about Piggy. The boys sniggered, laughed joyously and oinked in Piggy's face.

"Oink oink oink!"

"PIGGY!"

Piggy's face fell and he looked completely miserable and worse, betrayed.

"That was nasty Ralph, we promised him we wouldn't tell anyone," I reproached angrily, taking Piggy's hand and leading him away from the centre of the boys' teasing and to the back of the large crowd where I had been previously standing. Ralph's laughter subsided and he guiltily apologized to Piggy.

There were murmurs from everybody, but I only heard a few of them and none seemed to have anything to do with guilt over teasing Piggy.

"There's a girl here!"

"How'd she even get on the plane?"

"Was she on our plane?"

"I thought it was just boys."

"She doesn't go to our school- I would have noticed _her_."

"I'm not complaining!"

There was laughter and more murmurs of the same basic idea. I bit my lip and looked pleading over at Ralph. As I turned my head, I locked eyes with Jack. His steel-blue eyes seemed to pierce straight into me, as if he could read my innermost thoughts. He didn't shy away, but kept staring at me with the same stone-cold emotionless expression, until I subsided and looked away.

"I was going to suggest we think of how to get back, but now I'm not sure!" One of the boys laughed, smirking over at me.

Ralph held the conch up to his lips, blowing into it, so it let out a booming sound, immediately shushing everybody. "Yes, there's a girl. She was on our plane, we'll get to that later if she's comfortable. Give her some respect. But first, the boy who collapsed needs watched."

At this, Jack grunted, but gave in. He went over to the boy and lifted him up with the help of another boy from the choir, they set him gently on the sand. "Keep an eye on him," he told one of the littluns. When he noticed the boy's frightened expression, he sighed and simply told him, "if he wakes up, moves, anything, tell us." The boy nodded and hurried to his task.

Well, Jack was certainly a natural leader. He seemed strict and harsh, but he must be caring. He did order the unconscious boy to be watched for after all and he certainly had the respect of the choir. They seemed very much to be under his control.

"So a meeting?" Jack walked over to a large rock and sat in the middle, his eyes squinting in the sunlight.

"I think we ought to have a chief," Ralph suggested. "To make rules and decisions."

"Alright, I suppose I ought to be chief," Jack suggested, as if it had already been decided and he was in fact doing everybody else a favour with a great inconvenience to himself. "I'm head chorister and I can sing C sharp."

"And what exactly does singing C sharp have to do with anything? Are you a siren who's going to summon a ship with your singing?" I asked sarcastically, stepping forwards. The words had been out of my mouth before I even knew what I was saying. Ralph let out a small laugh, but Jack didn't look amused.

"Well I was just saying that I'm obviously the best choice for Chief, so I nominate myself," he replied, attempting to retain his dignity.

"Shouldn't we have a vote?" I asked. Everyone turned their heads towards me, as if a girl having an opinion was the oddest thing that they had ever witnessed. Ralph seemed greatly relieved at my suggestion and gave me a grateful smile. _Wanted to be chief himself I suppose._

"I think that sounds fair, we can vote for chief, Jack's nominated himself, anyone else?"

"The boy with the shell!" A littlun chirped, looking enthusiastically at Ralph, who smiled back in response.

"I'm the oldest here," Jack added, looking back to his choir for support.

"Okay. Who votes for Jack?" Ralph asked.

The choir all raised their hands, some immediately and enthusiastically, but some were more hesitant and their vote seemed more unwilling. The choir's support pleased Jack, but when he saw nobody else had raised their hand, he seemed slightly daunted. I looked around, then raised my hand to vote for Jack.

"I knew I liked you," he smirked. "Good taste."

I don't know what exactly possessed me to vote for Jack, something about him just pulled me to him. He seemed like he would be a good leader, strict but caring and the choir were positively under his control. He was probably also confused about why I had voted for him especially after I had called him out about the usefulness of singing C sharp. And besides, Ralph had told everybody about Piggy, so how could I trust him with anything?

Ralph looked at me questioningly, frowning. He looked hurt and betrayed, but what did he expect? I wasn't going to vote for him just because he was the first person I had talked to. I just wish he didn't look so damned upset about it. Despite my last-minute vote, nobody else raised their hands.

"And me?" Ralph asked. The littluns quickly raised their hands, the rest followed, except for Piggy. I looked at him questioningly and he begrudgingly raised his hand, clearly still annoyed at Ralph. "So I'm chief," Ralph announced, everyone knowing that he had the majority vote. The hurt looked faded and he broke into a grin and raised the conch proudly. "I'll blow the conch to call meetings and during meetings, we'll pass the conch along and only the person holding it can talk, no one can interrupt except for me."

Most seemed satisfied by this, some nodding in agreement, some smiling encouragingly.

"He's awake!" Cried the littun who had been charged with watching the unconscious boy. I hurried over and kneeled down beside him, he was still laying down, but his eyes were open.

"Are you alright?" I asked, to which he nodded in answer. "What's your name?"

"Simon," he answered quietly. His voice was extremely calming and something about it made me rethink my initial theory of him being mischievous. He looked like he was about thirteen, but something about him seemed so wise, as if he knew far more than anybody else on the island.

"He's fine," assured one of the boys from the choir. He had dark black hair that hung in a fringe, covering his eyes. His skin was pale and he had quite a large nose. He was ugly, but not in a silly way. He looked intimidating. "Leave him." He hadn't said it in a comforting tone, it was more like an order. Well, I wasn't about to be ordered around by some pale skinny goth kid who could only have been a year older than me at the most.

"Why don't _you_ leave _me_ alone?" I snapped indignantly, standing up onto my tiptoes in an attempt to stare him down.

"I'm not scared of little girls," he poked my chest with his index finger, pushing me slightly backwards and causing me to stumble slightly. I clumsily tripped and fell into someone's arms. I let out a yelp at the sudden slip, then turned and saw I was staring right into the eyes of Jack. My knees felt wobbly, but for prides sake, I stood up again, glaring at the goth boy.

Jack held my arm gently, as if presuming that I was going to hit his friend, then shot the boy a look. "Leave the girl alone, Roger. Just 'cause she doesn't wanna suck you, doesn't mean you get to push her." Jack's authority over the choir caused Roger to obey without any complaint or back-talk, he simply grunted in response, turned sharply on his heels and walked away lamentably. "Just ignore him Audrey, not everyone here is as much of a gentleman as I am."

"Gentleman?" I questioned, smirking.

"None of your teasing is going to be effective, sweetcheeks. You voted for me, so you must like me. At least more than prettyboy over there," he added with a confident smirk, sarcastically nodding towards Ralph.

"Sweetcheeks?" I suppressed a laugh at the nickname, also trying to change the subject from the vote for the chief. I honestly had no idea what to say as to why I had voted for Jack, I suppose I had acted on impulse. _But why was my impulse to vote for him?_

"Yep," he smiled. "Blondie seemed pretty upset when you didn't vote for him. You ain't his are you?"

"His? People don't belong to people."

"Sure they do."

* * *

"Audrey!" Ralph called, beckoning me over to where he and a large number of the boys were standing. I skipped over to them, anxious to see what they were discussing. "We were thinking that since the whole choir voted for Jack, he could be in charge of them. He wants them to be hunters and you were the only other one to vote for him, so I was wondering what you wanted to do."

"You mean I could be a hunter?" He nodded in response. "What did Jack say about that?"

"It was his idea actually," Ralph replied, biting his lip slightly. "But you would be useful here too, we're going to build huts and I would be grateful for any extra help."

"I'm not so sure about hunting, I would probably be pretty miserable at it," I replied with a laugh. "I don't mind helping out with huts."

He smiled, seemingly pleased at this. "Good. I mean, good that we have more people to help with huts, not-"

"Not what?"

"Nothing." He gave a small laugh and ran his hand anxiously through his fair hair. "I gotta go, talk to you later Audrey." And with that, he left.

I stood there for a moment, wondering what exactly had just happened, when I felt a tug on my dress. I jumped slightly, then breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that it was only a littlun. He looked up at me with wide eyes and a pitifully worried expression. He didn't say anything, so in an attempt to break the silence I simply asked him if I could help him with anything.

"Where's my mummy?" He asked, sniffing.

"She's not here sweetie, I'm sorry. But I'm sure you'll see her soon," I did my best to smile and sound reassuring, like I had done with Johnny. I was the only girl here and the closest thing the littluns would have as a mother figure while we were on this island, The only problem was, I'd never had any younger siblings. My only sibling was my brother and he was twenty, so I'd obviously never had to look after him. I was completely inexperienced with caring for young children. "What's your name?"

"That's Phil," informed Piggy, who was still standing right beside me. "Right?" he asked, turning to the littlun. "I asked you that earlier, didn't I? I'm still working on remembering all of the littluns' names. My auntie said the best way to remember something is to repeat, repeat, repeat, until it sticks." He said this with a proud smile, pushing up his glasses, which were falling down his nose.

Phil simply nodded in response then scurried off, presumably to find his friends. I followed the basic direction he had left, not saying anything to Piggy. I walked along the sand which the sun was shining directly onto, causing it to gleam a brilliant almost white colour. It was relatively quiet, so I could hear the small waves gently dribbling onto the sand, then delicately moving backwards.

As I continued to walk beside the shore, the sound increased. There was loud splashing, high-pitched playful screaming and various other noises as the littluns contently played by the beach. Some were swimming in the water, some were building sandcastles and some were simply running around jovially.

After a while of sitting contently and watching the littluns play, a terrible, awful, horrifying thought rushed into my mind. _I didn't have my hairbrush and I had no idea where the rest of my clothes were._ I groaned inwardly. _None of the boys would care, if I mentioned it to any of them they would just laugh at me_. If the plane crashed, it must be somewhere on this island. That would mean my suitcase would be too, with my clothes, hairbrush, makeup, books, _everything._ I bet none of the imbeciles on this island even _read_ books.

That would mean, if I wanted my suitcase, I would need to find the plane. And I would need to do it by myself.

* * *

 **A/N**

Audrey is going on a mission, what do you think? Brave or stupid? Anyway, thank you so much to everyone who's reading and especially those of you who followed, favourited or reviewed. I'm really enjoying writing this so I hope you like reading it :)

 **Crazyapplexoxo-** Of course you can PM me anytime and I would be happy to discuss this story with you :)


	4. Chapter 4

With a devilish grin on my face, I jumped to my feet. I was anxious to put my plan into action, and my eager anticipation made the walk back to the meeting place seem almost interminable. As I looked down at my already tattered dress, I decided that retrieving my suitcase was a matter of utmost importance. However, the more I thought about it, the more impossible the plan seemed. I didn't even know where the plane had crashed. How did I, the only girl on the island, expect to find pieces of a splintered aircraft strewn across the jungle? What if I got hurt? No one would even know where I had went or what had happened to me.

I approached the main camp and saw Ralph talking to Piggy and Simon. Perhaps Ralph would help? From the little time I had known him he seemed to be really helpful and caring. He would be the most likely to help me find the plane.

As soon as Ralph saw me approaching, he stood up, dusting the sand off of his trousers. "Hey Ralph," I greeted.

"Audrey," he smiled.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" I asked, nodding towards a shaded unoccupied area under a large tree.

"Sure," he responded, guiding me over to the allocated area. "So what is it?" He leant against the trunk of the tree with a crooked smile.

"Okay," I took a deep breath. "My dress is horrendously tattered and I don't even know how, but my parents are going to kill me… well I suppose that doesn't really matter right now, does it? Anyway, it's just dandy for all of you to run around with ripped trousers and no shirts, but for me, not so much. It wouldn't be at all appropriate for a lady to run around half nude! It certainly couldn't be very dignified. You don't honestly expect me to run around in this the whole time we're here do you? So I need my suitcase. It's in the plane, which must be on the island. We all woke up on the island, so the plane must have crashed on it. So you see my things _must_ be here. Also, I would presently kill for a hairbrush," I added, running a finger through my mussed curls. "Which happens to be in my suitcase."

"So you want me to help you find it?"

"Exactly. I'm sure everyone would like their suitcase, we're not savages after all. We're English and everybody knows that the English are by far the most dignified. So the majority would be more than willing to help."

"Audrey, look," he sighed, looking at me regretfully. "We just got here, the littluns are scared. Christ, the bigguns are scared. No one wants to go off on some rescue mission for your dresses. I mean, I really do want to, but I'm chief. I have to stay and prioritise the essential things, such as huts, safe drinking water, food, you know…" I looked at him disappointedly. "Don't lose heart, I'll go with you another time. Maybe in a few days when the huts are finished."

"I get it," I mumbled, walking off.

"Audrey!"

I kept walking.

Okay, maybe I was being bratty, but I was already tired of hearing about huts. He was just mad because I didn't vote for him for chief. And besides, turning back now would be admitting that I was wrong and that I should have been nicer about it. I never admitted that I was wrong.

"Well you're quite the firecracker, aren't you?" I jumped at the sudden noise, then groaned when I heard laughter.

"I am _not_ in the mood," I replied, speeding up my walk without bothering to see who it was.

"Well that's too bad."

"Is it now?"

"It is. You know why?"

"Let me think." God, he didn't quit.

"I happened to hear your conversation with that stick in the mud. I'm presuming that's what's got your panties in a twist."

"Would you _please_ just-" I cut myself off when I turned around and saw that it was Jack.

"Just what?" He smirked.

"Shove off," I pushed him lightly, but he didn't move an inch. This only angered me further, so I groaned and stormed away.

"Well that's no way to treat someone whose tryna help you," he smirked, walking briskly behind me.

"Well _that's_ no way to- Wait, help me?"

"A damsel in distress, seems like the thing to do," he replied. "So, shall we leave now?"

I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face, I jumped up and hugged him. "Whenever you're ready, Jacky."

He took my hand and after looking around quickly, we ran into the jungle, giggling like littuns. What we hadn't noticed when we had incautiously scanned the camp, was Piggy watching us.

Even when we were out of sight from everybody in the camp, we kept running in an odd ecstasy of excitement. I almost gaped at the beauty of the jungle, it was so bright and colourful. There were huge trees with long lime green vines dangling haphazardly, dazzling flowers in almost any colour imaginable, blues, yellows, reds, purples, my favourite- the pinks, and so many more that were so beautiful I couldn't possibly conjure up any words to due them justice. Describing never was my strong suit, I always tended to talk rapidly, skimming over everything in an attempt to get all of my ideas out before I forgot them. There I go again, off in a tangent.

There were bright red parrots and striking yellow canaries. As I watched them flying side by side, the red and yellow seemed to merge together, creating the illusion of flames flickering in the trees. At first, it seemed like a small, gentle flame, but as I looked at Jack and our pace picked up, so did the flame and eventually it seemed like a tremendous forest fire. I also noticed my favourite birds, larks, who could be heard singing a sweet tune next to innumerable other birds which I had never even heard of. As we ran faster, the many hues turned into a blur. It was a whirlwind of colour, almost dizzying. However, I was too exhilarated to be disorientated.

We eventually slowed down, still holding hands. "Any idea where the plane actually is?" he asked with a laugh.

"Not a clue," I replied, letting go of his hand and clutching an outstretched tree branch for support. The blinding exhilaration wore off and I was exhausted.

"Then I guess we keep looking," he said without a moment's hesitation, urging me onwards. "You alright? This _was_ your perfectly devised plan, firecracker."

"Peachy," I retorted sarcastically, walking beside him. He just laughed and quickened his pace.

* * *

"Is that a wing?" I pointed to a white metal object which was slightly poking out from a bush.

"Only one way to find out," Jack replied, grabbing my hand and running to the area I had pointed at.

"We found it!" I exclaimed breathlessly as the plane came into sight. "You don't think there's some way we can send a message do you? Let someone know we're here."

"No harm in trying," he answered casually, his tone suggesting that he didn't think it likely.

There was a wing broken clean off the plane and the plane itself was higher up, perched on a cliff. It looked slightly unstable, but after all we'd done to find it, we weren't about to turn back. We weren't yellow. I walked ahead of Jack, to the base of the cliff and looked up, attempting to estimate how high up it really was. It wasn't too bad, maybe 300 metres. "So we climb?" I asked apprehensively.

"You scared, firecracker?" He asked teasingly.

"Course not, wonderboy." I walked around the area, trying to find the best area to begin climbing.

"How about here?" Jack suggested, walking towards a steep hill. "We can walk up this, it'll get us about halfway. Then you start to climb and I'll be right behind you in case you slip. Not that you will," he quickly added.

"Sounds good," I agreed and began hiking up the hill.

* * *

We were roughly halfway up the hill when I stumbled slightly. There was a moment of petrifying panic, but it only lasted for a split second. Jacks arms were immediately around me, balancing me. I continued to walk up with one of Jack's arms around my waist.

"Jack?"

"Hm?"

"Why did you really come here with me?"

"Didn't want you in a pissy mood. Hell hath no fury like a woman's scorn."

" _Haha very funny_."

* * *

We were almost at the top of the cliff and I hadn't even stumbled except for that one time and even Jack had slipped once. It was much worse than when I did. We had been just starting to climb, when he misplaced a foot and almost fell down, but grabbed onto my ankle, which almost dragged me down too. However, I grabbed a vine with my hand and cautiously lowered it down to him. When he grabbed it, I pulled it up until he could find correct footing and a grip for his hands. We were a pretty good team.

"I can feel the edge of the cliff!" I exclaimed happily. I pulled myself up, accidently kicking Jack's head as I did so. "Sorry!"

Once I saw his head poking up, I extended a hand and helped to pull him up. "Cheers, firecracker," he smirked.

"Look, the plane isn't at the edge of the cliff, so as long as we're careful and if we get out relatively quickly, it should be fairly simple," I remarked.

Jack went in front of me this time, probably to avoid getting kicked in the head again. He climbed onto the plane through the area where the wing and side of the plane had broken off. It wasn't too high up, so he grabbed my waist and pulled me up.

"So where did you sit?" He asked.

"Over here," I answered, walking over to my aisle. "It's right here!" I found my suitcase easily, right at the foot of where I had been sitting. At least it hadn't moved much. Jack lifted it up for me, then lowered it off the plane so that we could look around without having to worry about losing it.

"You look for suitcases and any supplies that could be useful, I'll try and find a way to let someone know that we're here," Jack instructed.

"But where exactly _is_ here?" I asked doubtfully.

"No idea, guess I hadn't thought that far," he replied, shrugging slightly.

"Well any message is better than nothing, at least to let people know that we're alive," I reply optimistically. "Then they'll be sure to find us eventually."

He smiled and walked through to the cockpit, jamming open the door.

I quickly got to my task, wanting to get out of this death-trap as soon as possible. I found a few suitcases, some at the feet of seats like mine had been, some in storage compartments. I carried them to the edge of the plane and lowered them carefully like Jack had done. I had found what I assumed to be the majority of the suitcases, but not much in the way of food or water.

"Audrey!" Jack called. He didn't sound worried, more shocked. My curiosity urged me to run over to the cockpit, causing the plane to shake slightly.

"Shit," I muttered under my breath, slowing down and carefully entering the cockpit. "What is it?"

"Check this out." He spun around the pilot's chair, revealing a limp, lifeless body.

I screamed in shock, almost falling backwards. The pilot's head was split open and I could see part of his brain at the top of his head. There was blood pouring out of his mouth, so much blood… "You're excited about this?"

He laughed, "Well it is pretty cool. You should have seen your face!"

"That's not funny," I snapped bitterly, angrily crossing my arms. Jack just stared at me blankly. "For Christ's sake, turn the bloody chair around!"

"Sorry, I didn't think you would get so upset about it," he apologised sincerely, turning the chair around to shield the body from my sight.

"Did you at least find some source of communication?"

"Actually there's good news about that," he replied smilingly. "There's some radio thingy and the pilot must have recorded a message as soon as he realised the plane was going down. Here, listen." He passed me a pair of headphones and pressed a button.

" _MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY. Flight Atlantic 815 in imminent danger, requires assistance right away. Plane is going down, children aboard flight. Heading towards island…"_ There were some words I didn't understand, then it cut off.

"Communications must have caught off before he finished it, but it was heard by people. They might not know where we are, but they know the plane went down and something about an island," Jack said knowledgeably.

I removed the headphones, breathed a sigh of relief and hugged him.

Our hug was interrupted by more shaking, Jack presumably hadn't noticed it before and quickly exited the cockpit and ran to the other end of the plane, not seeming to realise that he was just causing it to shake more. "Audrey, get over here!"

I cautiously navigated my way towards him and saw what had distressed him. Half of the plane was practically hanging off the cliff and the other half seemed like it was going to quickly follow.

"Run!" he shouted urgently, roughly pushing me away until I was at the area where a section of the plane had broken off. The plane was rapidly moving towards the edge. "Jump!" he shouted, grabbing my hand, jumping off and sending us both crashing onto the ground. We lay on the ground gasping when, just behind us, the plane plummeted off the cliff. There was a loud crashing sound and then what sounded like an explosion. My heart was pounding in my ears and for a moment I felt like I couldn't breathe or even move, I just lay there, motionless.

I was still laying on the ground, but Jack ran over to the edge to look at what remained of the plane. "No fire," he assured. "Weird, I was almost hoping for one. It would look pretty cool," he remarked with a laugh. He was smiling, but I noticed his hands shaking slightly with adrenaline.

"I'm just glad we're not down there with the plane," I replied gratefully. "Thank you for saving me by the way," I said, standing up and looking into his eyes.

"You're far too pretty to end up looking like the pilot," he smirked, looking back into my eyes, which were glistening mischievously. This, along with the odd expression on his face, made me unwittingly suspicious.

"Jack-"

I never got to finish what I was about to say, as his hands were on my temples and he pulled me towards him, his lips crashing onto mine.

* * *

 **A/N**

What did you think? Feedback is always appreciated :) Thanks so much to Vixray and A. Harmony for all of the advice and suggestions for this chapter and helping make it way better :)


	5. Chapter 5

Shock locked me into one position, unable to even twitch. _Where had that come from?_ My arms hung limply at my side, I had no idea how to react. _Did I like Jack like that? Did he even like me like that?_ A million thoughts raced through my head, too quickly for me to process a single one. Jack pulled away from the kiss and looked into my eyes as if trying to figure out what I was thinking. His hands were still possessively holding onto me by my temples, so our faces were so close I could feel his warm breath on my face.

It was very dark outside and I could barely see anything, it was definitely late into the night. "We should probably get back to camp, back to Ralph… and the others," I suggested breathlessly, unsure of what else to possibly say in reaction to that.

He frowned, letting go of me. "How are we going to find our way back if we can't even see?" He asked, pointing towards the dark, shadowy jungle.

"Then what are we supposed to do?" I avoided looking him in the eyes, instead diverting my attention to basically anywhere else.

"We could stay here. I mean, you got suitcases and there must be blankets or something in them to keep us warm. And I'll be here to protect you," he added with a suggestive smirk.

"What makes you think I'm the one who needs protecting?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him. "But okay, I suppose there's no harm in staying here for the night." Besides, the thought of going back into the unknown jungle in the dark didn't exactly appeal to me. I didn't mention that last part, however. Jack would think I was a wimp.

"You really are something," he said, shaking his head with a small smile. I gave him a smile back, then quickly looked down again, feigning interest in searching through suitcases.

"Blondie's gonna be pretty pissed when he realises we're missing," he grinned with a hint of devilry in his sly smile. "Unless he already has, which he probably has, since you're here."

I didn't reply to his last comment, instead I pushed half of the suitcases over to him. "Any of these yours?"

"That one." He pointed to one of the larger suitcases which was sitting beside me, so I passed it over to him. "You're awfully quiet. At least compared to your usual self," he commented, opening his suitcase and looking through it.

"What do you know about my usual self?" I asked with a smirk. "As far as I remember, we've just met today."

"Ah, as far as _you_ remember," he said with a wink.

I just shook my head at him. "Find anything?" I asked, shivering from the bitter cold.

"Here," he took a jacket out of his suitcase and handed it to me. "Take this, you're shivering."

"Oh no, it's yours. You wear it."

"I have more, its fine." I really was freezing, so I took the jacket and put it on.

"Thanks," I smiled, hugging the too-big jacket around myself.

"We can bring the suitcases back tomorrow and get Piggy to look over them- not like he'll do anything else, so we can do the fun stuff. Like finding them," he winked. "And you deserve a rest," he added, laying down.

I sleepily agreed and lay down beside him on the rocky surface. It certainly wasn't comfortable _._ I was exhausted, so it didn't take long to get to sleep despite the less than satisfactory conditions.

* * *

I woke up feeling slightly better. The sun was shining, making me feel too warm in Jack's jacket, so I was about to sit up to take it off. That's when I noticed Jack's arm was possessively around my waist and we were lying right beside each other. I could feel heat rising to my cheeks as I tried to push myself up, but I was already weak in general and Jack was surprisingly strong for someone who was asleep. So I was stuck lying there until he woke up.

I was debating whether or not to wake him up when I felt him nuzzling at my neck. I looked at him and saw that he was doing it in his sleep, but nonetheless, I shook him in an attempt to wake him up. _"This is ridiculous,"_ I thought. _"I'm a dignified lady and here I am afraid to wake a boy up. Besides... if he wakes up quickly enough, he may not notice our compromising position."_ Eventually, I pinched his arm and he shot up immediately.

"What was that for?" he asked grumpily, sitting up and rubbing his arm where I had pinched it.

"You wouldn't wake up," I replied, shrugging sheepishly. "And we don't even know what time it is, it could be the afternoon already."

"So?"

" _So_ we have to get back to everyone else before Ralph gets _really_ mad," I explained. "He is chief after all."

"Well _I_ didn't vote for him," he protested. "And neither did you," he added after a slight pause. He had a strange gleam in his eyes, much like the look they had had last night. I felt my heart pounding in my chest, I was still unsure of what exactly I thought of what happened last night. Right now, I didn't want a repeat. It would only make things uncomfortable and complicated and I didn't know if he would tell anybody that we had kissed. I didn't know why, but I knew that I didn't want Ralph to know. It was odd, Ralph's reaction had been on my mind for a while, I just didn't know why.

"Yes, but that doesn't change anything. He's still the chief and he's seems to be a good one so far," I answered. Jack scoffed in response.

I stood up and started picking up as many of the suitcases as I could carry. "Now help me carry some suitcases and we can come back for the rest later," I ordered, heading towards the jungle.

Jack begrudging obeyed then followed. "You're lucky you're cute."

A small smile tugged at my lips, but luckily my back was already turned to him so he didn't notice. He had said it casually, but all the same, my heart was beating almost as hard as when we had jumped out of the falling plane.

* * *

As we got to the end of the jungle, or at least where the beach started, I could see people running around at different tasks. I stepped onto the sand and before I could even blink, Ralph was there looking accusingly at the suitcases in my arms.

"You wouldn't go, so I volunteered," Jack explained smugly, shouldering Ralph aside as he left to presumably go find his hunters.

"Look," I sighed. "I'm sorry but—"

Ralph just shook his head and walked away, leaving me standing alone.

My solitude didn't last long, as Piggy was clumsily stumbling towards me. "Where did you get those suitcases?" he asked, pushing up his glasses and looking at me inquisitively.

"Oh shove off," I grumbled, dropping all of the suitcases except for my own and walking briskly past him.

I found an unoccupied area of the beach and sat down, taking the opportunity to empty my suitcase to remind myself of what exactly I had.

First, I picked up my notebook and a pen and began writing a list of my suitcase's contents.

 **Notebook and pen (obviously)**

 **Sunglasses**

 **Forest green dress**

 **Deep blue dress**

 **Light blue dress**

 **Pink dress (2)**

 **Wine red dress**

 **White blouse**

 **Red skirt**

 **Cardigan**

 **Underwear**

 **Stockings**

 **Brown shoes (the hideous ones Mother had picked out)**

 **Red high-heeled shoes**

 **Black slip on shoes**

 **Books (4)**

 **Makeup bag and contents**

 **Comb**

 **Towel**

 **Face cloth**

 **Toothbrush**

 **Bottles of water (3)**

 **Bar of chocolate**

 **Bag of sweets**

 _Not too bad,_ I decided and carefully repacked my suitcase.

After I finished repacking I looked up and saw Ralph standing above me. "Hey," he greeted curtly.

"Hey," I replied in the same manner. He sat beside me, not saying anything for a few minutes.

"Are you okay?" he asked eventually.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"You were with Jack."

"I was."

"And… C'mon you must at least have an idea of what he's like."

"I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself," I replied primly.

"I know," he sighed, sounding impatient. "He didn't try anything, did he?"

Then it was my turn to sigh. "Do you want something?"

"Yeah actually. We're organising huts and sleeping arrangements and since you know," he ran his hand through his hair, something I noticed him doing quite often. "Since you're the only girl, I was wondering what you wanted to do."

"Oh. Well I don't want to be any bother, I'll just sleep wherever you want me too I suppose. Except-" I paused, then continued with my voice lowered. "I don't want to be in the same hut as Roger."

Ralph laughed slightly then nodded. "I think I can accept those terms." There was silence for a short while, but he filled it again. "Look, I'm sorry for not going with you to find the plane. You were right, it was a good idea and now we have more supplies."

"It's okay, but there's some more good news," I replied with a smile. "Jack was in the cockpit and he found a distress call that the pilot recorded. I didn't really understand it, but Jack said it was heard by people."

"So people know that we're out here?" he asked excitedly.

"Well, they don't know exactly where 'here' is, but they know that the plane went down and that's something," I answered.

"Yeah. Yeah it is something." He stood up and offered me his hand, which I took and he gently pulled me to my feet. "Let's go back to the others, they'll probably need help with the huts."

I followed him over to the main camp where, to my surprise, everybody was actually working. I had to hand it to Ralph, he was a good chief. The littluns were collecting supplies to build the huts and the bigguns were working together to build them. There were four being worked on at that moment, but none finished.

"We're trying to make them large enough to fit two or three people in each hut," Ralph explained, guiding me over to where Simon was carefully building a hut by himself. "So that means…." He paused, then called Piggy over. "Piggy, how many people are here?"

"Twenty-three," he replied automatically. "I took names," he explained, looking over at me.

"That's impressive," I praised. "And I'm sorry I told you to shove off, I didn't mean it…" I looked at him, biting my lip. The worst thing was, I didn't entirely mean it.

"You told him to shove off?" Ralph asked with a laugh. I nodded, stifling my own laughter.

"It's fine," Piggy replied, moving to sit down as he was apparently out of breath merely from standing.

"So you got back okay?" Simon asked, continuing his work on the hut.

"Yes I'm fine, thanks," I smiled as I helped him and Ralph build the hut. "Why isn't Piggy helping?"

"His ass-mar apparently, but I reckon he just doesn't want to get off his ass," Ralph answered, shaking his head in obvious disapproval. I swear I saw Simon smiling at this. "No point in making a kerfuffle out of it though."

"I suppose so."

The three of us had the hut finished reasonably quickly and with the hunters' help, we had four huts in total. Ralph wanted another one, but we assured him that four shelters would do fine for now. The littluns could fit four or five into a hut, as they were quite large anyways and some of the bigguns could sleep outside for the night.

It was late into the evening by the time we were all finished, and Ralph, Jack and I were sitting together outside one of the huts. I had given Ralph my notebook earlier and he had a pen of his own, so his attention was focused on planning out sleeping arrangements. Jack and I didn't possess his patience and had stopped helping out a while ago, instead having a conversation of our own.

It had started off with Jack telling me stories about his family and friends and I was mostly just listening, hardly able to get a word in. He certainly enjoyed talking about himself. That was why when he had asked about my family I had to ask him to repeat himself from my shock. He listened attentively to everything that I said, even asking questions.

"Your brother really pushed you into the ocean?" he chuckled.

"I'm afraid he did," I replied with a laugh. "I ended up dropping my fishing rod and getting pinched on the toe by a surprisingly vicious crab." Jack erupted into laughter. "I can laugh about it now, but at the time I wasn't one bit amused. My father ended up giving me the blame for losing his fishing rod and I wasn't allowed to go fishing again. He said women should be learning how to cook and clean instead of out doing men's jobs."

"Well he has a-" Jack began, but cut himself off mid-sentence. "Well that isn't fair at all," he replied instead. He seemed to sense my doubts about what he was originally going to say, as he quickly changed the subject. "Why don't you do something fun rather than spending all night with your nose stuck in that damned book making 'sleeping arrangements'. Haven't you anything better to do?" he asked Ralph sourly.

Ralph looked up from the notebook impatiently. "If I wasn't doing this, nobody would and nothing would get done. We need to figure out how many people can fit in each hut and who's going to sleep where. For example, we can't put Roger and Maurice together, or they'll fight. Sam and Eric will want to be together and Audrey doesn't want to be in the same hut as Roger." I reddened at that, anxiously glancing at Jack to see his reaction.

"Why not?" he asked, looking between both Ralph and I, seemingly too distracted by Ralph's last point to argue with the rest.

Ralph shrugged in response. "I didn't pry." He kept looking straight at Jack, staring him down without averting his gaze to either me or the notebook.

"Look- it's no big deal. I just feel a little uncomfortable around him," I answered uncharacteristically nervously, attempting to ease the rising tension.

"Why? Did he do something?" Jack asked, looking right into my eyes, not seeming to care about Ralph's angry stare.

"No, nothing. He just gives me a weird feeling…" I hadn't the faintest idea of what to say. I just wanted to avert the subject to something else.

"Leave her alone, Jack. She clearly doesn't want to talk about it," Ralph ordered.

"Well if _Chief_ is telling me to, I guess I better tuck my tail between my legs and do what he says," Jack replied mockingly, angrily rising to his feet. "Do you like him speaking for you, Audrey?" he asked me. It sounded rhetorical, but he was getting so angry I didn't know what he was thinking anymore. I chose not to say anything. "Well do you?"

"He doesn't speak for me, he was just picking up on how I felt and was trying to help," I answered calmly.

Jack's face was reddening with anger. He turned and started walking out into the jungle.

"Where are you going?" Ralph asked, snapping his book closed, carefully throwing it to the ground and standing up.

"On a walk. I just want to get away from here for a while," Jack angrily responded, his face almost matching his hair in colour.

"But you were just away—" Ralph protested.

"Jack, it's dark and you still don't know this island, not really," I stood to my feet, standing slightly in front of Ralph.

"We were just fine last night," was Jack's simple response. "You can come with me, just not _him,"_ he snarled the last word, furiously pointing at Ralph.

They both looked at me as if this was the most important decision anyone had ever had to make. "Jack, this seemed to come out of nowhere. Just calm down, please. We can all sit here for a while longer, just like we were a few minutes ago." I was desperately trying to calm him down. I walked up to him and cautiously put my hand on his arm. "Come back and sit."

He roughly shrugged my arm off, pushing me backwards into Ralph, who had come to help calm Jack down. "Why don't you two just sit? You certainly look cosy right now," he spat. Ralph awkwardly let go of me, a slight blush on his face. Jack sniggered, trudging off into the darkness of the jungle. I watched him retreating until all that could be seen in the darkness was his bright red hair.

"What's gotten into him?" I asked, sitting back in my old spot and offering Ralph the notebook as he did the same.

"No idea, he really flew off the handle," he replied, shaking his head at the offered notebook. "I hate to admit it, but Jack was right, I've been working on the huts all day and then worked all night on that damned sleeping plan. I can afford to talk for a while."

It was true, from what I'd heard from Simon, Ralph had woken up as soon as the sun had risen and immediately set to work, even before waking anybody else up. Simon told me that he naturally woke up early, so helped Ralph when he set out to gather fruit and water for everybody to have as soon as they woke up. Then, while the others were eating, he and Simon had collected some supplies to get started on the huts immediately. Right after the boys had eaten, he had showed the littluns where and how to gather supplies and the bigguns how to build the huts. I had to admire his work ethic.

"I couldn't agree more," I smiled. "I mean- any offence isn't intentional, but don't you ever have any fun?"

Ralph sighed at this. "Sure, I like to have fun just as much as all of you do. If there were no responsibilities, I would happily go swimming, exploring the jungle and have went to find the plane with you. I'm not Jack though, I'm chief and I care about people. If Simon and I didn't work, there would be utter chaos."

"You're far too perfect, it wouldn't do any harm to have a little fun just for a while." I genuinely felt sorry for him, he was honestly just so nice and he never seemed to get to enjoy himself. We had only been here two days and everybody else had had some sort of fun. The littluns seemed to enjoy everything, most bigguns swam or made up their own games and Jack and I had found the plane. The choirboys were talking about going hunting tomorrow, which they would undoubtedly enjoy, especially Jack.

"What kind of fun?" he asked, eyeing me suspiciously. Despite his doubtful expression, I could tell he was excited by the idea and that was when I resolved to make him enjoy himself more.

"I'll make you a deal," I smirked. "Tomorrow, I choose what we do and you have to do it. We'll have an adventure. Then, I'll do something that you want." I extended a hand.

He smiled, shaking my outstretched hand. "You've got a deal."


	6. Chapter 6

"Audrey, wake up."

I groggily waved my arm to the source of the noise, unwittingly hitting him in the face. I grumbled a response and turned to my side in an attempt to block out the noise.

"Audrey."

There was uncomfortable shifting, then I was being shook until my eyes opened. I blinked sleepily, rubbed my eyes and saw Simon looking down at me. I looked back at him questionably.

"Everyone's awake and having breakfast already. Didn't think you would want to miss getting something to eat," he informed with a smile. I hadn't known Simon for long, but for some reason I felt completely comfortable around him, like I had known him forever.

"Thank you. Wait- did I hit you?" I winched when I saw a red cut on his cheek.

"Yeah, but it's okay. Just take your ring off next time you're going to hit me," he replied sheepishly, laughing slightly.

I raised my hand to his cheek, examining the cut. There was blood dripping down reasonably slowly. "It's not okay, I didn't even think that my ring could be so sharp. Must be the ruby," I theorized. "Here," I tore off a small part of the skirt of my dress and carefully held it over his wound. "Keep this over it to stop the bleeding." I smiled as he clumsily took the material in his own hand, covering his cut as I had done. "There. Now I feel slightly less awful."

"It's honestly alright, let's just go get some fruit or something," he answered, taking my hand in his free-one and leading me over to where everybody was sitting.

Most of the littluns must have already finished their breakfast, as they were happily running around and splashing each other in the water. As I saw Ralph sitting, smiling while talking to someone, I self-consciously attempted to brush the sand out of my hair. I scanned the area in search of red hair, but Jack was nowhere to be seen.

I was still pulling at my hair with my fingers -having left my comb in my suitcase- when Ralph greeted me with a grin. "Hey Audrey! Hey Simon- What happened to your face?"

Simon smiled over at me. "Someone didn't appreciate my presence and found hitting me to be the best way of telling me so," he answered matter-of-factly. Ralph blinked in confusion, so I elaborated.

"Simon attempted to wake me up, so I hit him in the face. My ring's more deadly than I'd imagined," I simplified with a smirk. "It was bleeding, so I gave him part of my dress." Ralph's eyes widened in shock and Simon's cheeks flushed with colour. "Oh heaven's no, not like that! You filthy-minded-"

For the first time, I looked over to the boy that Ralph had been talking to and saw that it was the boy from the plane. The snorer. _I was wondering when I would run into him._

He was looking at me quizzically, with a hint of self-satisfied amusement shining in his eyes. "Hello Maurice," I greeted with a smile, as if I hadn't embarrassed him on a plane full of his friends.

"Hullo Audrey," he answered back, with a smile that didn't look at all friendly. Ralph's eyes were darting back and forth between us both, while Simon was looking inquisitively at him.

Ralph patted a seat on the other side of him, presumably to separate me from Maurice. _As if he thought I was actually petty enough to start teasing him._

Did Ralph know me that well already?

I sat in the seat left and turned to Simon, but he wasn't there anymore. He had disappeared.

Ralph passed me a banana and a bottle of water, which I took gratefully. "We found a ton of bottles from the supplies you and Jack found from the plane, so we filled them all up and there's so many that we can almost have two bottles each," Ralph explained enthusiastically. His eyes were gleaming with satisfaction, he was evidently happy that everything seemed to be working out.

"Still remember our deal?" I asked mischievously, after I had finished the banana and taken a huge gulp of water. I had been thinking about our deal last night. I had so rashly proposed an adventure, that I had no idea what sort of adventure we were even going to embark on. With Jack, adventure had just sort of happened, he dragged me into excitement, but with Ralph it was I who had to encourage him to explore.

"Of course I do," he beamed, seemingly uncaring about showing his obvious excitement. "There's also your end of the deal, which you were very vague about," he added. "Which only gives me more control." He had a sly smirk on his face, as if he had already decided what I was going to have to do. I had simply presumed that he would want more help with the huts, or for me to watch the littluns.

The littluns were apparently always asking for me, as I was the only girl here I had unwillingly become a mother figure to them all. This was disastrously inconvenient, as I didn't at all like children. Well, it wasn't that I disliked them, I just didn't know what to say to them. None of the boys seemed to understand this, even Ralph presumed that due to the fact that I'm a girl, I must be naturally brilliant with children.

Ralph said that he had to go and take care of a few things, but that he would come and find me when we could leave. Most of the bigguns had also left, gone off to do I don't know what. That left me alone with Maurice.

"So are you with Chief?" he asked suggestively. _Well that came out of nowhere._

"I'm not sure what you're implying," I replied stiffly.

"Even you must know what I mean. Are you the Chief's?"

"I can assure you that I don't belong to anybody and I wish that people would stop making the mistake in thinking that I do." I was getting truly fed up with his –and the other boys'- attitudes at this point. "And what I also fail to understand, is why it would be any of your concern anyways."

He narrowed his eyes in confusion. "You use a lot of big words…" he drawled. "Stop changin' the subject and bein' confusin'."

"Maybe if _you_ used more 'big words' you wouldn't sound so stupid," I angrily retorted. "Besides, it's not me who's changing the subject, it's you. We were previously talking about who I supposedly belonged to and now, because of you, we're talking about big words."

He raised his fist up to my face, his face warped in anger. I tried to resist flinching, but I couldn't for the life of me. He smirked at what I can only assume to be the frightened expression on my face. "Not so high and mighty now are you? You might be able to speak proper, but that don't mean anything. 'specially not now. You're just a puny girl who couldn't defend herself against one of us. Not even Piggy."

"Do you want something or are you just here to attempt to intimidate me?" I absolutely refused to show it, but I did feel slightly intimidated. Alright, more than slightly, but he still had his fist inches from my face.

"You know what I wan'ed. I asked you if you're the Chief's," he snarled.

"And _I_ told you that I'm not. I then asked you why you care, which you didn't answer," I retorted, standing up to create distance between his fist and I.

"We've been makin' bets about who's gonna get you," he smirked. "None of us know if Chief's won and jus' isn't tellin' us. 'e wouldn' even do the bet, said 'twas disrespectful. We all reckon that's only 'cause 'e's already gotcha."

"That's sick," I gasped in shock. "Surely not everybody…"

"Most. Thanks for the information by the way, sugar," he gave a horrible grin, exposing his yellow-tinged teeth.

"Who did then?" I enquired with a raised eyebrow. My heart was beating rapidly. I felt wretched, completely naïve.

He only smirked, then leant close to me and whispered into my ear. "Does Chief know what you did with Merridew?"

I was going to reply, going to ask what he had heard and how he had heard it, but I couldn't form words. I stuttered nervously, feeling completely helpless for the first time. His horrid breath sent shivers down my spine. Not the good kind, but the horrible kind, the worst kind. "Watch your back," he sniggered as he walked away, leaving me standing alone, speechless.

* * *

 **A/N**

This chapter's a lot shorter than the rest, but this seemed like the right place to end it and I don't like chapters that are too long. They just take too long to read with no real breaks, but the next chapter will hopefully be a longer one. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far I really appreciate any feedback :) And thanks again to A. Harmony and Vixray for helping with this story :)


	7. Chapter 7

"Hullo Audrey." I nervously spun around at the sudden sound behind me, too anxious to think clearly. It was only Ralph, but all that I was able to think about was Maurice and what he had said. I wasn't going to allow him to push me around, but I didn't feel brave anymore. I felt helpless, which was probably just what he had wanted.

Despite my worries, I smiled when I saw Ralph's excited expression. "Hi Ralph." Somehow, my worries seemed to immediately disappear and my entire attention was instead focused on where we were going.

"So, I suppose you've already planned everything out?" he asked skeptically.

"Why of course." I took his arm and excitedly led him into the thicket of trees.

Ralph continuously voiced his doubts about whether or not I knew where we were going, which I of course pretended to take offence to.

"Where are we going?" He asked, stumbling slightly before quickly catching up.

I grinned. "You'll see."

Previously, I had thought about how none of us really knew where we were or what we were doing, so that's what gave me the idea. Earlier, I saw a mountain from the beach and decided I wanted to climb it. Firstly, it would be fun, but I also had an answer prepared that would appease Ralph: We could finally get an idea of the island's layout.

"We must almost be there by now, unless this island is bigger than I'd thought," Ralph smiled. "So what are you going to do? Blindfold me?"

"Don't rule anything out," I replied quickly, leading him onwards.

As we walked side-by-side through the jungle, I couldn't help but contrast it between when I had been with Jack. Then, I had been running until my legs ached and I felt as if I would fall to the ground in exhaustion, and we had flirtatiously joked and playfully pushed or tripped each other up.

Now, I was walking peacefully, taking in my surroundings. Even they seemed different. Before, I had noticed the vibrant colours resembling fire, now I noticed the lighter-coloured animals. There were a few birds on a branch, all blues or purples, which looked much more like waves peacefully dribbling onto the sand. They were humming lightly, creating a soft, soothing noise. Ralph wasn't shoving me either, he was always carefully helping me dodge hanging vines or avoid tripping over roots.

Instead of the light-hearted teasing with Jack, Ralph and I talked about everything. About our homes, our families, music, he even listened to me talk about ballet; something I took particular pride in doing.

After almost half an hour of walking, Ralph stopped and took his shirt off, throwing it onto the ground. He then began to climb a tree. "What are you doing?" I asked with a laugh, stopping to admire his agility.

"Climbing," he answered simply. I raised my hand above my eyes in an attempt to block out the sunlight as he neared the top. He was moving quickly and I couldn't help but notice the slight muscles in his arms and torso, which I'd never previously noticed when he was wearing a shirt.

I wasn't going to be left standing alone, so I followed behind him. I mimicked his actions- except for removing my dress of course. That would be ridiculous.

As I climbed, my dress continuously got tugged by branches. I noticed rips and tears beginning to form on my dress. By that point, I honestly didn't care about the state of my dress- which was admittedly very unlike me. The thing that annoyed me was how much it was slowing me down, keeping me significantly behind Ralph, who was nearing the top.

In a moment of extreme frustration, I furiously pulled at the bottom of my dress, ripping the majority of the bottom off. It was now extremely short, but at least I could climb easier and I was finally able to catch up to Ralph. I grinned as I saw his feet moving upwards and began to sneakily untie his shoelaces. Luckily, he didn't appear to notice. I changed direction and instead climbed towards the right, sitting on a thick branch.

"Are you waiting for me to fall?" he asked casually. I blinked, then, clearing my throat, asked him to repeat himself. He repeated the sentence in the same calm tone.

"So you noticed?" I awed in disbelief.

"You're not as sneaky as you think." I could _feel_ his smug smile.

He didn't fall either- he continued to climb at the same fast pace until the branches became too thin to climb anymore.

"So what exactly was the point of that?" I asked from where I was perched on a branch.

"Well you said that we had to have fun," he grinned. "And the walk was getting awfully dull."

* * *

As we walked further, I began to see the mountain. I excitedly grabbed Ralph's hand and dragged him forwards.

"A mountain?" he asked doubtfully.

When we were at the bottom of the mountain, he looked at me curiously, silently asking me to explain. "We're going to climb it," I proclaimed, placing a hand on my hip and squinting my eyes in the sunlight as I tried to see the top of the mountain.

He broke into a grin. "Whatever you say."

The climbing was similar to when I was with Jack. We each took turns slipping and helping each other up. No teasing, just nervous smiles and doubtful encouragement.

Ralph reached the top first, so he offered his hand and pulled me up when I approached the top. I smiled gratefully in response.

"Now isn't this so much better than making huts all day?" I asked with a knowing smile, edging up close to him so that our shoulders were touching. I looked into his eyes, exaggeratingly blinking as innocently as I could.

"I suppose I have to agree with you about that," he replied laughingly, breaking the gaze.

"Did you ever doubt me?" I walked ahead of him to further explore the mountaintop.

"Not for a moment," he answered in a slightly lowered voice, following behind me. "Wait—" he started after approximately a minute's silence. "This is a high mountain, you could see it from a distance, right?"

"What?" I narrowed my eyes in confusion. "Yes, I suppose so, but why-?"

I was cut off by Ralph, who was clearly talking more to himself than to me. "We'll make a signal! That's how we'll get rescued!" he was frantically pacing around now, his eyebrows furrowed in thought.

"A signal? Oh course! If we light a fire, the smoke can act as a signal!" I was finally catching on to his train of thought and was more than eager to let him know that I understood.

"Exactly!" he exclaimed, standing right in front of me now. His eyes were gleaming with excitement.

His excitement was infectious and I couldn't help beaming at his pleasure. He continued to talk about how we would go back to camp and tell everybody about his idea, about how a ship would find us and we would be rescued. We agreed that it wouldn't take long to be found once the fire was lit, naively talking about what we would do first as soon as we were home.

"I don't know about you, but as soon as I'm back in civilisation, the first thing I'm doing is having a bath. I feel disgusting here," I said, shivering at the mass of dirt that had stuck to both me and my dress. And my shoes for that matter.

Ralph chuckled. "Well you don't _look_ disgusting." I was about to give a sarcastic reply, as I would have if it had been Jack who had said it. However, as soon as the words were out of Ralph's mouth his cheeks flushed with embarrassment and he awkwardly shuffled his feet whilst biting his lip nervously.

"You don't look too bad yourself," I replied with a smile. I wasn't lying either. He had somehow remained relatively clean, but I suppose that's because he was washing in what we had designated as the bathing pool.

I hadn't yet- not because I enjoy being dirty, but because every time I had got to the point of even considering it, all that I could think about was if someone came up and saw me. The only time that I had ever washed in it was late at night when it was almost pitch-black and everybody else was asleep. Even then I had been nervous the whole time and had felt an awful feeling as if I was being watched.

"You're just trying to butter me up to get in my pants," he gasped with a false indignity.

I burst out laughing, almost as much from the expression on his face as his words. "You caught me. However, I could say the same thing to you. It was you who started the flattery," I smirked triumphantly.

"Keep saying that if it helps you sleep at night," he replied with mock seriousness.

I just shook my head as I gigged.

"Seriously though," he started, his tone becoming much more serious. "We should probably get back to the others and tell them about the fire so we can light one as soon as possible."

"I suppose you're right," I sighed. _Could he really not just have fun for one day?_

As we walked back to the beach, the conversation was much less lively. Our pace was faster than it had been before, due to Ralph's eagerness to tell everybody about his idea. I didn't talk much, but he continued to excitedly speak of his plans for the fire, the huts and countless more ideas to improve our living conditions or increase our chances of getting rescued.

It's not that I didn't appreciate it, but he was supposed to be having fun and forgetting about all of that for today. It hadn't lasted long at all. As soon as we had reached the mountain, his mind-set had completely switched to chief-mode. _Was that all that he ever thought about? Could he not just talk to me about something other than ideas about the island?_

He didn't even seem to notice that my attention was elsewhere- or he just didn't care. I trudged along frustratingly, longing for him to show his fun, spontaneous, jokey side, like when he had started to climb the tree. Or even when he had mocked Piggy.

After what had felt like an eternity, we reached the beach. The littluns seemed to be playing as usual, but the bigguns were all together in a circle.

Just yesterday, a few of us had set up logs which we used as benches in a wide circle for everybody to sit at when Ralph called meetings. During the meetings, everyone sat on the logs except for Ralph, who had a larger seat as he was Chief. Even when there were no meetings, nobody was permitted to sit there but him. There was a natural platform which was basically pink granite that was covered with a thin layer of fallen soil and trees. It was where Ralph, Piggy and I had called the first meeting and now it was the designated centre-place for all of our meetings. It just seemed natural.

The bigguns were sitting on the logs and all appeared to be listening to Jack speaking. _Looks like he finally decided to come back._ His bright hair was the first thing that I had noticed as I approached. This meant that I also immediately noticed as he turned around to face Ralph and I as we approached. His face was set in an angry scowl, though I wasn't sure why.

Ralph didn't appear to notice any difference in the mood of the camp, he just cheerfully walked towards them with a wide grin on his face.

"Where were you two?" Roger sneered, raising an eyebrow suggestively. It was the first time I heard him speak in a while, and I was so momentarily shocked that it took me a moment to absorb what he had even said.

Ralph finally seemed to pick up on the mood, and looked over at me with a reassuring smile before answering. "It was nothing like that," he assured with a courteous smile, but I flushed crimson and no one seemed convinced.

There were more vulgar comments from many of the boys, but Jack remained quiet, probably annoyed at being interrupted from whatever it was he was saying. I noticed the redness in his face slowly increasing until it was the colour of his hair.

"How is it any of your business anyway?" I asked, looking around at everyone.

"While we were out hunting, you two were off having _fun_ ," Maurice scowled. The way he had said fun made it sound like he was assuming we were doing a lot more than playing catch.

"Would you all just shut up?" Jack practically growled. "They didn't do anything. Knowing Ralph, they were probably just scavenging for supplies. Besides, Audrey wouldn't let _him_ touch her anyways." The way he had said _him_ sent shivers down my spine, it was filled with pure hatred. I again blushed at his statement, but I didn't understand why he was so angry. He had kissed me before when we were at the plane, but it had come out of nowhere and he hadn't mentioned it since. I wasn't sure if I was disappointed or relieved by that.

"Jack, you're not helping. Would you _please_ stop acting so immature?" I pleaded. He was acting like a five year old who'd just been told that he had to share his new toy.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ralph asked before Jack could reply, his face was also reddening and I could see his hand clenching into a fist. He rose to his feet, as did Jack. They stood face to face, Jack - who was the slightly taller of the two - glaring down, and Ralph raising his chin with defiance so that his livid eyes looked straight into Jack's.

"I think you know what that means," Jack smirked. There was an almost demonic glint in his eye and he had an air of satisfied amusement at Ralph's growing anger. Ralph leaned in towards Jack and I could see his lips moving, but his voice was so low that I couldn't hear what he said. The boys around them must have, though- and it must have been something incensing, because Jack's cheeks suddenly grew a brighter red than his hair, and his face twisted into a ferocious snarl.

"Who do you think you are?" Jack bellowed. "Do you know who you're talking to?"

"I'm chief. Remember that," Ralph replied, too calmly.

Just as Jack's fist raised, I jumped to my feet and ran in between them. I had intervened just in time to prevent Ralph from being hit. In my hurry to prevent a physical fight, I had thrown myself in between them without giving a moment's consideration to what would happen, and as a result Jack's fist landed a harsh blow right in my stomach, knocking me to the ground. I clumsily stumbled before landing on my back with my ripped dress riding far too high up my legs.

It felt as if all air had been sucked out of my body. I tried to retain my composure, but within a few seconds I realised that all attempts would be futile. I gasped for air, breathing it like water, but every time I breathed, my stomach ached even more.

Someone was kneeling beside me, but everything was foggy and I felt so dizzy, so I was unable to tell who it was. They were saying something but all that I could think about was how noxious I felt.

"Audrey- I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hit you, it was meant for-"

I pushed the outreaching hands away and urgently covered my mouth with one of my hands. I was going to throw up and I knew it, but everybody was there and it was disgusting. _I would just have to hold it in._

"What did you hit her for!?"

"You don't hit girls!"

"She doesn't look so good..."

With a heavy heave of my stomach, I threw up all over the sand to the side of me. I'm fairly sure some had gotten on whoever had kneeled beside me's shoes.

The poor diet on the island had made me even weaker than I had previously been- which wasn't very strong at all. And Jack was remarkably strong. That one punch had left me in an awful state. Just imagine what would have happened to Ralph if I hadn't intervened. He had a boxer's build, but I was doubtful of whether he could ever really hurt somebody.

My eyes were foggy and my head was spinning, but I could feel myself being lifted up. At first it was rough and my head was violently bobbing up and down, but I could then feel myself being passed over to somebody else and it was much gentler. They were supporting my head on one of their arms and were carefully and slowly carrying me to wherever it was. Then it went black.

* * *

I opened my eyes and pulled my head upwards to see that I was lying inside one of the huts. Simon was sitting near me, but other than that I was alone.

"You're awake!" he exclaimed.

"What happened?" I asked groggily, rubbing my eyes. I remembered the majority of what had happened, but I wanted to hear it from somebody else, especially if anything else had happened after I passed out.

"Jack and Ralph were about to fight, but you got in the way and ended up being punched in the stomach," he began.

"By Jack?"

"Yes."

"Just making sure."

"Anyway, you looked really done out and then-" He looked at me sympathetically. "Then you threw up- some got on Jack's shoes, which amused some of us. Then Jack lifted you up and started carrying you, but Ralph was mad and took you away from him, I think he said something about it being Jack's fault. Ralph brought you here and I don't know when you passed out."

"Oh. Jack and Ralph didn't fight did they? I at least stopped it?" I was desperate now, my stomach was still aching and I needed it to be for something.

Simon smiled. "They didn't, they were going to go up to the mountain to light a fire, but Ralph wanted to wait for you."

"Really?" I couldn't help but smile at that.

"Yeah, there was a meeting first though. It was only a littlun- the one with a birthmark- telling us about a 'beastie' and he wanted to know what Ralph would do about it. Ralph got pretty annoyed about the mention of a beastie, and he wouldn't hear of anyone saying that there was one. We had a vote, and only about five or six said that they think there was a beastie."

"A beastie? That's absurd. What else happened?"

"Then Ralph mentioned the fire and everyone started to run towards the mountain, but he blew the conch and they came back before they'd gotten even two minutes away. That was when he said to wait for you, then Jack said not to. Then I came in here to make sure you were okay." Simon's smile turned into a slight frown. "I think he and Jack are _discussing_ it now." It didn't sound like they were having a calm debate.

He motioned for me to be quiet and gesticulated towards the outside of the hut. I listened carefully and could faintly hear speaking, but I wasn't able to determine what was being said. I pushed myself up from where I was lying and stood as close to the edge of the hut as I could without being noticed from anybody outside.

"If you're scared, you stay here then."

"I'm not! She'll be upset if we don't wait-"

"She hurt herself, she can't-"

"And whos fault is that?"

"It was an accident! There's no point in forcing her up a mountain when she's hurt. Unlike you, I'm thinking about her well-being."

I easily recognised the voices as Ralph and Jack, with a few others piping in whenever they got the chance.

"On the contrary-"

That was when I left the hut, immediately silencing them. They both flushed pink, as if their mothers had just caught them stealing the last cookie.

"Hi," they greeted simultaneously.

"I waited for you- to go to the mountain, I mean," Ralph informed, stepping forwards.

"And I told him not to force you- you're still hurt," Jack cut in, stepping in front of Ralph.

I turned around in search of Simon, but he was gone. _How on earth did he do that?_

"I'll go," I replied quickly, my words coming out so rapidly that they were barely distinguishable. They both stared in silence for a moment, so I broke the lull. "Shall we leave?" It was then that I noticed how many people there really were crowded around, it seemed to be everyone- except Simon.

Ralph smiled, but Jack looked dumbfounded. "Let's," Jack eventually replied, regaining his composure. He took my arm in his and led the way towards the mountain, everyone else following quickly behind.

I turned my head around and noticed that both Ralph and Piggy were still standing at the beach. I think that Piggy said something Ralph didn't like, as I saw him grumpily pushing Piggy aside and following after us.

I turned my head back around to face the direction we were walking in, but presumably Piggy followed behind us shortly after. It must have been much slower than Ralph, who had quickly caught up with the crowd. I broke away from Jack, allowing Ralph to lead beside him. My entire body was aching, so I slowly retreated to walk beside Piggy- So worn-down that I was even willing to listen to his ramblings.

We reached the mountain relatively quickly, and climbed it with ease. Below one side of the mountain was a platform of forest, almost as if it had been placed there just for our convenience.

"Down there we could get as much wood as we want," Ralph remarked.

Jack nodded approvingly. There was an unmentionable tension between the two of them, but nobody seemed to know what to do about it, so we ignored it. Jack turned to the choir and ordered them to build a pile of wood, as big as they could make it. Most of the other boys followed their example, even Ralph. All except Piggy were eagerly dashing over to be of assistance.

The twins, Sam and Eric, were the first to find a suitable log. However, it was so heavy that they were unable to lift it without the help of some of the other bigguns. I was the first to rush over, but several others shortly followed, undoubtedly thinking that a girl would be of no real use anyways.

The group split off slightly, everybody wanting to be the one to collect the most wood. I beamed when I found a large log, and both Jack and Ralph rushed over to help lift it and together, we grinned as we worked together to lift it.

"Almost too heavy," Ralph commented, his grin only widening.

Jack grinned back widely. "Not for the two of us."

" _Three_ ," I snapped. It was _me_ who had found the log in the first place.

Together, we staggered back up to the mountaintop and together we crashed the log onto the pile. I moved out of the way, wiping dirt off of my hands. They both backtracked, wiping sweat from their brows and laughing triumphantly. Then, they looked at each other quizzically, as if asking if they had suddenly become friends.

They didn't say anything, but there seemed to be a new unspoken alliance, a peace treaty of sorts. They both acknowledged it as they smiled broadly at one another. At that moment, I had stopped caring that I was being virtually ignored. Anything to stop their constant bickering.

The twins had the idea of collecting dried leaves and adding them to the pile and others followed their example, most of the littluns unsure of what they were even doing, just happy to be a part of a group effort. One by one, we all stopped going back to the forest, each of us sensing that the pile had become large enough.

Ralph and Jack were at the centre of the group, standing right in front of the pile, slightly in front of the assembly. They both looked puzzled, but I was unsure about what could have been bothering them.

Ralph awkwardly cleared his throat. "Will you-? Uh… Will you light the fire?" He blushed ashamedly.

Now it was Jack's turn to blush. "You rub two sticks together," he mumbled incoherently, then raising his voice, asked, "has anybody got any matches?"

Everyone was silent, turning their heads and looking at each other. "Maybe there are some back at the beach in someone's suitcase?" I suggested dubiously.

"Isn't there something else we can use?" Piggy asked suddenly. The sunlight was glaring through his specs, lighting an idea in Jack's mind.

"His specs! Use his specs!"

Piggy was surrounded and his protests were drowned out as he was pushed and shoved.

"Be careful!" I protested, shoving my way into the crowd. "There's no use in shoving him, you'll just break his glasses! _And_ you'll hurt him- where's the good in that?"

My protests were unheard by all except Piggy, who smiled appreciatively. Ralph elbowed Piggy in the ribs while Jack grabbed his specs.

Ralph moved the lenses this way and that until there was a white light shining through and a small amount of smoke rose up. Jack knelt beside him and blew gently until a tiny flame appeared. The flame spread rapidly, until it turned into a huge fire, causing the boys to erupt into a cheer. All except for Piggy, who was still shrieking. "Give me back my specs!" he yelped.

I marched over to Jack and snatched the specs from his grip.

"What do you think you're doing?" he snapped, jumping to his feet and causing me to shrink backwards slightly. However, I kept a tight grip on Piggy's specs and held them safely behind my back.

"You've got your fire, now he needs his specs," I explained. "What are you going to do? Hit me again?" And with that, I turned sharply and returned Piggy's specs to him.

Most of the boys excitedly ran back and forth, collecting more wood and dried leaves.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and jumped at the sudden contact. I rolled my eyes when I saw who it was.

"Look, I'm really sorry Audrey," Jack began sincerely, then continued in a much lowered voice- he was practically whispering into my ear. "I just get really mad sometimes, worse things have happened before and that's why I had to-"

He was interrupted by Piggy, who began complaining about the fire. "A fat load of good that's doing- there's not even any smoke!"

The boys stopped in their tracks, realising that he was right. Jack backed away after shooting me another apologetic glance. He sprinted over to Roger, presumably so they could poke fun at Piggy together.

"You all run off and act before you think. Jack leads the way and you all go running after him, even you Ralph. You want to impress him so you do whatever he says. I don't care what you think of me, you all just call me Piggy anyway. None of you even care what I'm called! Now you've gone and wasted all that wood and leaves and-" He stopped talking, falling to his knees. He clawed at his throat, desperately gasping for air. He wheezed and spluttered frantically, then, gaining more control took long, deep breaths.

Roger erupted into laughter at this display of weakness, followed by Jack and then a few of the other hunters joined in. Ralph however, quickly kneeled down beside Piggy to make sure he was alright, and I quickly followed once I had processed what was happening. "My… asthma," Piggy panted breathlessly.

Roger whispered something to Jack that caused him to snigger. Ralph flushed ashamedly at this. "Piggy's right," he started. "We've almost burnt the whole forest down- put the fire out quickly. We need to make a careful fire in the right area and we need smoke. The whole point of the fire is smoke."

To the surprise of everyone, Jack supported him. "Ralph's right. We need to start another fire in an area that he and I will choose," he shot Ralph a pleasant smile.

"That's not good enough! You all only listen to Ralph!" Piggy cried. "When I complain, no one listens! And what about the boy with the birthmark on his face? Have any of you seen him since lighting that fire?" He was still panting heavily, but he undauntingly continued, desperate to get his point across.

There was silence. It was true, nobody had seen the boy. I had noticed him around camp before and had seen him happily gathering supplies with a few other littluns. We all knew what must have happened, but no one would say it. Except perhaps Piggy. "No one watched him, you all just go so carried away with lighting that stupid fire and now look what it's done. He could be there bur-"

"Shut up, fatty!" Jack roared.

"No Jack Merridew, you and your hunters are the worst of all. I got the conch you can't make me stop talking," Piggy argued.

"That doesn't matter, we're not in the beach," Jack countered.

Ralph took the conch from Piggy and blew into it furiously. "Would you all just be quiet?" he asked, looking from Piggy to Jack. There was an authoritative tone in his voice which commanded the attention of everyone. "The fire's out, so we need to light a new one. One in the right area, one with smoke. Then we'll go back to the beach."

Everybody nodded in agreement and immediately ran off to collect more supplies.

The twins figured out that green branches were the best for creating smoke, and within a matter of minutes there was a large fire with a wide string of smoke. The boys smiled happily at their accomplishment, the fate of the boy with the mulberry birthmark forgotten- or at least not mentioned.

It was agreed that the choir would be in charge of keeping the fire lit. Jack would organize the schedule for who would be on watch. Sam and Eric would be one watch, as they did everything together, but Jack would never be on watch. He had more important things to do. For the sake of agreement, Ralph didn't argue about that, so no one else did. None of us had the energy for another argument.

* * *

When we all got back to the beach, I immediately retired to the hut that I had been in earlier. Just when I was laying down and almost asleep, Jack came barging in, his loud footsteps unmistakable.

"Audrey I'm so sorry, I really didn't mean to hit you. I would never hurt you on purpose," he stuttered, his eyes were gleaming with regret and I could tell that his apology was sincere, but that didn't really change much.

"But you would hurt Ralph?" I had meant to sound tougher, but I felt so weak. All that it had took was one punch and I was unconscious. What if Maurice was right? What good was being smart when any person on this island could practically kill me?

"I just got really mad- I wasn't myself. I was trying to explain it on the mountain, before fatty- Never mind, you know I'm not like that."

"I don't know what you're like, not really."

His frustration was evident and I could tell his patience was wearing thin. He moved closer to me, so we were right beside each other. "I was trying to tell you before, I haven't told anyone before- Except Roger. Can I trust you?"

I dumbly nodded, my curiosity taking control.

"I believe you," he assured, still seeming unwilling to tell me.

He was still looking at me as he brushed a strand of hair away from my forehead. He traced his thumb around my cheek, then lowered his head down and kissed me.


	8. Chapter 8

I angrily pushed him off me; he couldn't just kiss me. Not twice; not without me knowing what it even meant. I didn't know what he wanted from me and I didn't know what I wanted from him. The entire thing was completely and utterly confusing.

He looked at me, his face a picture of complete disbelief, as if someone refusing to do whatever he wanted was the most shocking thing in the world. "What's wrong?" he frowned.

"I don't get you," I sighed.

"You don't have to," he smirked, his eyes lighting up again.

I shook my head. "No, I don't understand what you want from me."

"I thought I made it pretty clear..." he wasn't being funny now, he looked genuinely dumbfounded.

"What? You want me to kiss you and back you up whenever you have arguments with anyone and that's it?" I could feel myself getting flustered.

"I don't just want to kiss you, I want to be with you. I really like you," he had stopped smirking and now had a serious, solemn expression.

"You barely know me," I smiled disbelievingly. I suddenly found a new energy and managed to rise to my feet.

"Then let me. Come hunting with the choir tomorrow, you'll like it." He rose too and grabbed my wrist to prevent me from leaving.

"I don't want to," I murmured. "Now will you please leave to allow me to change?" I asked with the most dignity that I could muster.

"Why not? And I have to talk to you- can't I just stay?" He noticed my eyes widen and added, "I promise I won't peek." His eyes still had their mischievous glint and I didn't trust him at all.

"Please just leave," I moaned. Instead of arguing any further, he went over to my suitcase and brought out each of my dresses, along with all of my shoes.

"It's late, so I think that you should go for an evening look," he commented jokingly, picking out a wine red dress and my red heels.

"I can't wear heels on a beach, I'll twist my ankle," I snapped. "Besides, you've horrible taste. I couldn't wear a red dress with red heels."

He swiftly replaced the heels with black flats. It was when he began pulling out underwear that I rushed over to him and made him turn around.

"I really wish you would leave," I muttered embarrassedly as I awkwardly removed my clothes.

He was standing at the entrance to the hut -guarding it apparently- and didn't reply to any of my protests. Just as I had put on fresh underwear, he turned around.

I shrieked, urgently covering myself up with my dress, desperately holding it over my body. There were footsteps outside and I immediately regretted screaming.

"Shh! I was joking!" Jack whispered nervously, quickly turning back around.

My regret was even more severe when Roger entered. His eyes widened as he took in the scene before him and his mouth twitched into a smirk. "What've we got here?"

"Please. Get. Out." My cheeks were bright red, I felt as if I was going to burn. I wish I would just burn and turn into ash, anything to get away from here.

"We were hoping for some alone time, Rog," Jack smirked devilishly. _He could not have been serious._

"So you've won the bet?" Roger asked. "And you didn't even enter it properly. The only two people getting close to winning haven't even made a wager," he shook his head disapprovingly.

Jack panicked at the mention of the bet and urgently tried to shut Roger up. I felt a sudden surge of relief that Jack hadn't participated in the bet. The relief was soon vanquished when I remembered the situation I was in.

"Can you two please discuss your little game outside so that I can change?" I asked, griping onto the dress so tightly I was afraid it would rip.

Roger didn't say anything, but there was a horrible look in his eye and he was walking towards me, so I acted on my first impulse and screamed at the top of my lungs, awkwardly swatting him away. Jack pulled him back and Ralph came running into the hut, his movement rapid and panicked. "What's going on?" he asked, his eyes turning to fully take in the scene before him.

I was standing in the corner, making myself as small as possible and desperately holding the dress over me, while Roger was standing in front of me with a terrifying look in his eye and was being held back by Jack. Neither of them said anything, but I let out a small whimper and sat down with a blanket over me to better conceal myself.

Ralph rushed over to me and bloomed with colour when he realised that I was practically nude beneath the blanket. He raised his voice, looking furiously over at the two boys. "What did you do?!"

"We didn't do anything," Jack started. The newfound friendship between them was already seeming to crumble away, but neither wanted that to happen. "She was just getting changed and I turned around- I was only joking. She screamed and then Roger came in." He looked accusingly at his friend, more than willing to give him all of the blame. "He was walking towards her suspiciously, so I pulled him back. But I think she got scared," he looked at me as if asking for confirmation. "And she screamed again." If looks could kill, the look Roger gave Jack after that would be fatal.

Ralph looked at me pityingly, he undoubtedly felt me shaking violently beside him. "Well why did you turn around when she was changing?"

"All of you just get out now," I bit. I was tired of being intimidated by stupid boys and I wasn't going to sit there shaking with fear while they argued as if I wasn't even there. I stood to my feet, carefully wrapping the blanket around me while making sure that I remained covered. Jack left, pushing Roger in front of him, but Ralph stayed put.

"I'm sorry that you had to deal with them," he sympathised.

"I'm not sure about you, but the last time I checked, you were involved in all of you. I don't need your help so just get out," I stubbornly pointed to the exit with one hand. He hesitatingly left after shooting me a sad glance. Why did he always have to do that? Why couldn't he just be angry instead?

I took advantage of the rare occasion of being alone and quickly changed into the red dress and slipped on the black shoes. I also rummaged through my makeup bag and took out my mirror, groaning when I saw that it was smashed. I brought out a red lipstick and carefully applied it without a mirror. I put it on so often that I could do a reasonably neat job without one.

I left the hut in hope of finding Simon- at least he didn't irritate me. All that I really wanted was to stay inside that hut forever, but we only had four or five of them and I couldn't keep one all to myself.

"Well look at you," Maurice whistled. "Who you tryna impress?" he was following closely behind me.

I spun around angrily. I was not in the mood. "Maybe I'm not trying to impress anyone, maybe my whole mission in life isn't just to get boys to like me. Maybe I want to look nice for myself and I don't give a damn what anybody else thinks."

That shut him up. I turned back around and continued walking, not bothering to check if he had left because I knew that he did. He was all talk and I doubted that he would act on his threats. He had no reason to go after me anyway, all I'd done was embarrass him slightly and everyone had already forgotten about it.

It was dark and I could barely see, but I manged to make out a shadowy figure sitting alone in the shade of a tree. I assumed that it must be Simon as nobody else ever sat alone for long, especially not in the dark.

"Hey," I greeted quietly, trying to confirm that it really was Simon before getting too close.

"Hullo," he replied as I sat beside him, recognising his voice. "Are you alright?"

As I looked at him I determined that he must be around thirteen, yet he was much wiser than most boys on this island put together. I decided that I could talk to him. I had to speak to somebody after all, or I would go mad- and with Jack and Ralph it was complicated. Ralph hadn't done anything, but I always felt odd around him. I had this feeling that I didn't understand and it was the same with Jack. They were both so different, yet they both gave me that odd feeling.

"I don't know," I answered honestly. "You're much cleverer than I am, you manage to avoid all of the drama on this island. You just sneak off and nobody seems to question it anymore." He stayed silent. "Where do you go anyway?"

"I don't know, different places. I suppose I just explore the island. There are so many places that nobody else takes the time to notice, places with beautiful flowers with creatures I've never seen or even heard of before. There are lizards, birds, bugs and these brightly coloured animals that I don't know the name of, but they're amazing." I could easily hear the passion and wonder in his voice as he spoke. His eyes lit up and his face assumed a distant and faraway, yet bright expression and I couldn't help but marvel at him. I wished that I felt like that about nature. Of course I liked flowers and birds, but not like he did. He understood it, he had a connection with it.

"It sounds beautiful," I smiled, "I can see why you favour it over here." I honestly could.

"So what's wrong?" he instantly assumed a serious expression that convinced me that he was genuinely concerned.

"Jack kissed me," I confided, unsure of why I was about to pour my heart out to a thirteen year old.

His eyes widened, but he didn't say anything, so I continued. "He did it before too, when we had found the plane. Then, I had kissed him back but this time I pushed him off. I'm just confused. He hadn't mentioned the previous kiss again before now and I don't know what he wants from me," I sighed in frustration.

"Well he talks about you a lot. Nothing heart-warming, but he's Jack Merridew so that wouldn't be likely. I think him saying anything remotely nice about you says a lot," he replied with a slight chuckle. "Do you like him?"

I stiffened up at the question. "You know what? We don't need to talk about this." I stood to my feet. "I don't know how I feel and it's not only him that I- why am I telling you all of this? You're so bloody quiet! It's making me tell you everything and I just don't- I have to go." He didn't reply and he didn't need to, there was nothing to say. He respected that I didn't want to talk about it, either because he was nice or because he just didn't care. It didn't really matter which one.

I quickly walked away, unsure as to where I was even going. I was being horrid to everyone and I hated it. I didn't mean to act like that. I was behaving a stuck up brat. Just because Jack was confusing me, I was mean to him. It wasn't his fault, he was probably confused too I suppose; except when he turned around. That was vile.

Then there was that strange feeling whenever I was with Ralph, so sometimes I panicked and started being horrible to him too, then I had snapped at Simon when he had been trying to help me. I didn't care about anybody else- Roger and Maurice deserved my snide comments.

I walked past where a crowd of boys were sitting discussing something animatedly. Their conversation quieted as they noticed me approach and they not-so-subtly stared. I wasn't getting big-headed- that wasn't it at all. I knew that they probably wouldn't be half as interested in me if I wasn't the only girl here. Even Jack, as much as he claimed to like me.

I was initially going to speedily walk past, but I didn't want to further seclude myself from the group. I didn't like being by myself, I much preferred being with others rather than being alone with my thoughts.

"Hi," I greeted as casually as I could, sitting down between Ralph and Piggy. There were a few hellos from some of them, but they all seemed displeased that their conversation had been interrupted. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm going hunting again tomorrow," Jack announced. "I'm telling them about how I'm going to catch a pig," he added with a smug smirk.

"We're," Roger corrected grumpily.

"We're," Jack repeated sarcastically.

"Well you seem fairly sure of yourself," I commented with an amused smile. I didn't want things to be awkward and I doubted anybody else did, so I decided that pretending nothing had happened was the wisest option- at least for now.

"Of course I am. I'm head chorister and the oldest one here. And the tallest," he bragged happily. He didn't even seem to notice that he was bragging. He seemed to assume that his arrogant boasts would only earn our admiration and respect.

"Oh yes, how could I forget?" I asked sarcastically, rolling my eyes and looking over to Ralph, silently asking if he was truly being serious.

Jack smiled, apparently oblivious to my sarcasm. _People see and hear what they want to._

"Maurice is on the mountain until it gets lighter, it's his shift for now," Ralph informed out of nowhere, presumably attempting to change the subject.

"Are you coming with us?" Jack asked, his blue eyes piercing right into me. I blinked in confusion and asked him what he was talking about. "Hunting," he answered simply.

Ralph must have noticed my hesitation, as he began arguing the case for me remaining here. He pointed out how my stomach was still hurt, so it would apparently be dangerous for me to go hunting. He claimed that I was needed at camp to catch up on rest and help with huts.

"He has a point," I admitted, trying to feign disappointment. I had absolutely no interest in chasing after a pig with sticks. I simply didn't see the appeal.

To my surprise, Jack smiled at Ralph. "Of course- I wasn't thinking it through. You're right." I checked the expressions of everyone else and saw that they were all just as shocked as I was, even Ralph.

Ralph grinned back in response. "That's alright," he answered simply.

I looked to Piggy, who seemed even more baffled than I was. I was definitely pleased, but Piggy didn't appear to be. "Don't you think it's silly? Most of our able-bodied people are off hunting rather than helping with the important things like building huts," he argued, staring accusingly at Jack. I had to admit, the kid had guts, even Ralph would rarely challenge Jack.

"Who asked your opinion, fatass?" he replied coolly, retaining his composure for what I think was the first time since I'd ever seen him.

"I have a right to speak," Piggy argued with absolutely no hesitation.

"You haven't got the conch," Jack mocked sarcastically.

"I don't need it to voice my opinion, this isn't a meeting. I'm also the only one being logical," Piggy countered calmly.

"We need meat!" Jack bellowed, one of his hands clenching into a fist. So much for retaining his composure. I noticed his fingers subtly tracing around his fist, then he began to roughly scratch at his arm- it looked like he was trying to calm himself. It wasn't working. "That's what's important, that's what people want! Everyone's hungry, so we need meat." He looked to Ralph for support, but everyone knew that Ralph's main priorities were the fire and the huts, not meat.

"Both are," I chimed in. "The fire is undoubtedly the most important thing, we can all agree on that." I said it finally, leaving no room for debate. Everyone nodded agreeably. "We need huts for practicability, but we also need meat. Like Jack said, everyone's hungry, but it's not just that. We'll go mad if all we do is work, we need fun. The littluns entertain themselves easily, but we all need fun. If the choir find hunting fun, then that's just as important. If we live solely to survive, then that's not really living, is it?"

There was silence. I hadn't meant to make a whole speech, it had sort of just blurted out. Nobody argued with my opinion, they simply voiced their approval before moving onto a different topic.

One by one, everybody gradually trickled away to go and find somewhere to sleep, either in the huts or beside them. It was eventually just Ralph, Jack, Roger and I.

I wanted to get up and leave rather than deal with the sheer awkwardness of the situation, but something was keeping me glued to my seat. I wouldn't have admitted it at the time, but I wanted to be present for their conversation. I didn't want them to speak about what had happened in the hut earlier, especially if I didn't know what they were saying.

"Nice dress," Roger smirked, gazing at me intently, as if he was trying to decipher something.

I uncomfortably squirmed in response, feeling all of their eyes on me. Refusing to be a shrinking, scared little girl, I replied in the most confident tone I could muster. "Thanks, you can borrow it anytime."

He raised an eyebrow in response and looked to Jack with his eyes widened. He whispered something to him, smirking, but Jack seemed affronted by whatever it was.

"So you're into sharing clothes?" Roger asked, his eyebrow still raised.

I refused to allow myself to blush, I just smiled at him calmly. "Not ordinarily, but you do seem like the dress-wearing type and I would hate to deprive you."

He looked vexed by that and his face darkened in humiliation. He then smirked smugly, as if he made a satisfying revelation. "Jack, would you control your hussy?"

Jack stiffened and I looked to both he and Roger accusingly while Ralph looked confusedly at all of us.

"Well _I'm_ not the one who-" I began to protest, but was interrupted by Ralph speaking up.

"That was uncalled for Roger, she's not a hussy and she's not Jack's."

"Who asked you?" Jack asked heatedly. "She's not a hussy but-"

Refusing to listen to another juvenile argument, I grabbed Ralph's arm and led him away from Jack and Roger. I'm not sure why I made him come with me, I just didn't want to be alone and I certainly wasn't going to bring Jack, as Roger would certainly follow.

I could hear Roger speaking frantically, probably whispering poison into Jack's ear. "See? I told you- That's why I said we should have-" It was unclear what exactly he was saying and I didn't want to slow my pace, so I kept walking quickly with Ralph by my side.

"Are you okay?" he asked concernedly once we were out of both eyesight and earshot of them both. He stopped walking and looked right at me.

"I'm fine. You don't need to keep speaking for me though, I can defend myself against the likes of Roger. He doesn't scare me." I continued walking, forcing him to do the same.

"Maybe he should…I just mean, I've heard him talking and-"

"What did he say?" I quickened my pace so Ralph wouldn't notice how frightened I was truly getting. I wasn't going to show it, but being stuck on an island with a group of teenage boys with boosting testosterone was quite intimidating. It seemed like my only option was to find a way to outsmart them, luckily that probably wouldn't be too difficult.

"Try not to worry about it, I won't let him do anything," he assured. I didn't reply, so we walked on in silence. It was dark, but somehow that didn't bother us and we found it relatively easy to navigate our way around. As we continued walking, I noticed that we were approaching the bathing pool.

Ralph was distracted and didn't appear to notice, which gave me an idea. We walked right to the side of it and he still didn't seem to notice the water, so I quickly pushed him in. He shouted in surprise, his body becoming completely submerged in water. I'd seen him swim, so I wasn't worried. I just beamed with amusement as I peered into the pool.

Sure enough, his head splashed up from the water and I could faintly make out a smile playing on his lips. "What was that for?" he asked laughingly, spitting out water that must have crept into his mouth.

"You need to have fun, remember?" I teased.

"So getting pushed into freezing cold water is your idea of fun? In that case…" I could barely see anything as the night was getting darker. I could hear splashing and then my leg was getting pulled downwards. I shrieked in shock as I fell into the pool, creating a huge splash. I kicked about in panic before swimming upwards; the water wasn't deep and my feet could just about reach the bottom if my head was almost entirely submerged.

"Fun, remember?" he smirked. I kicked my legs about, half to keep my head up and half to keep warm.

"I don't know what you're complaining about, I'm having the time of my life," I replied as convincingly as I could. It was fun, but I would much prefer to go swimming in the daylight when I could see properly rather than just about making out Ralph's figure in the water. There was also my dress which was increasing in weight and continually weighing me down, pulling me towards the bottom. I swam over to Ralph, holding onto him for support. I was too tired to fight my dress for dominance.

"So am I," he replied suddenly. He was holding onto me too, making us a clumsy mess of limbs frantically clinging onto each other.

Our faces were inches apart and I wasn't shivering anymore. I felt heated, almost electric; it was as if there was a newfound energy inside me. I couldn't make out the details of his face, but I could see his eyes which still seemed to gleam, even in the darkness.

The space between us was almost non-existent and it gradually seemed to get smaller. We were slowly moving even closer together until, with a quick movement, his lips were on mine. It felt like we were completely entwined as his hands moved down my back and mine wrapped around the nape of his neck. I could taste salt from the water, but it wasn't unpleasant, it somehow merged with a natural sweetness.

We broke away, smiling shyly at each-other. I couldn't bring myself to suggest going back to the others; I wanted nothing more than to stay right there in the freezing water with Ralph, even if I could no longer feel my toes.

* * *

"This way," Roger hissed as he and Jack stealthily followed Audrey and Ralph's trail. "I told you that neither of them could be trusted. Ralph was pretending to be your friend so that he could embarrass you in front of everyone. He's threatened because he knows you would be a much better chief."

Jack followed behind him, for the first time in his life he wasn't leading Roger. "The last part's true, but the rest is bullshit," he countered sourly. He refused to belief that Ralph would betray him. Everyone knew that Audrey was his, there was no need to say it. It should have been clear.

"That's why I'm going to show you," Roger replied confidently. "Audrey's worse than him. She was leading you on, but it's really Ralph that she likes. They were probably together since the first day on this island."

"Shut the fuck up."

The two boys continued to walk through the jungle, until they finally saw two shadowed figures ahead. "Be quiet."

They hid behind a bush and watched as Audrey pushed Ralph into the bathing pool. "I told you," Jack smirked. "That's my girl, she hates him."

Roger didn't reply- he rarely did.

They continued to watch as Audrey got pulled into the water and when Jack had been about to approach them to 'protect' Audrey from Ralph, Roger had pulled him back, telling him to wait.

They waited for a short time longer, although it didn't feel short to either of them. It felt like a millennium. That was when it happened.

The colour drained from Jack's face as he saw them kiss. His hand clenched into a fist and his face hardened harshly, making him look capable of murder. Roger smiled in accomplishment.

"I'm going to fucking kill him," Jack swore.

"I'll help," Roger promised. "Her too."

"No," Jack argued sharply.

They watched as the kiss deepened, until Jack looked away.

Roger looked at him almost sadly, trying to determine how to comfort his friend. Thousands of ideas swam through his mind, but they all panicked him. So instead of saying what he wanted to, he put on his signature smug smirk.

"Loyalty is so rare these days."

* * *

 **A/N**

Sorry I haven't updated in so long! I have exams next week so I've been really busy, but after next week there should be regular updates again. Thanks to everyone who's followed, favourited or reviewed :)


	9. Chapter 9

For the first time since arriving on the island, I awoke smiling. I bit my lip with an excited sort of nervousness as my thoughts drifted to last night. Looking back, it seemed like nothing more than a dream- However, when I noticed that my dress was still slightly damp, I was assured that it was definitely more than a dream.

I had slept in a hut along with Piggy, Simon and a littlun whom I didn't know the name of. Although, Simon must have left extremely early and the littlun left just a few moments after I'd woken up. That left me with Piggy.

The thing was, Piggy was perfectly nice, but I wanted to have time to think and thinking was impossible with Piggy around. In short, he never shut up.

"You came in awfully late last night," he observed. I impatiently hummed in response, but apparently he wasn't able to take a hint. "You must be feeling exasperated!"

"Oh I am," I muttered.

"What? It doesn't matter- anyway, why were you so late? Were you with Jack?" he asked obnoxiously, peering at me over his round, thick-rimmed glasses.

He didn't even seem to realise that he'd said anything at all inappropriate. "Why would I have been with Jack?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at the pudgy boy.

"Well you like 'im don't you?"

"Yes, I suppose we're friends," I replied in a neutral tone, attempting to conceal any complicity. "Although he is rather immature… and extremely inappropriate at times."

"Like when you were getting changed last night and he-?"

"How do _you_ know about that?!"

"Well it's common knowledge. Roger said that you had been teasing them both, so it wasn't Jack's fault for peaking 'cause he thought you wanted him to," he explained knowledgably.

" _Well,_ if anybody is stupid enough to believe that then-"

"I know you didn't, Jacks just like that. You're smarter than him, you'll think of something."

I waited for him to mysteriously disappear, leaving me to ponder on his words, but he couldn't even seem to take his own cue. We both stood in an uncomfortable silence for a while with me, staring at him expectantly and him, fumblingly shuffling his feet and scratching at his head.

"Oh for goodness' sake," I sighed exasperatedly. "Think of what?"

"How to get back at Jack."

This was it. He would back away and leave me alone, just as Simon always did. But he didn't. His feet remained firmly planted on the ground and his gaze remained fixed on me. His stare seemed almost puzzled; his eyes were squinted as if he was attempting to focus on something very carefully.

"Piggy?"

"Yes?"

"What's your real name? I feel terribly rude for calling you Piggy, but I've just realised that I don't know what else to call you."

He began to laugh and answered in what I think was the most pessimistic voice I'd ever heard, "It doesn't matter anymore."

I hadn't particularly cared what his name was, and at the time I'd thought that he was just trying to gain attention and make me continuously ask him his name. I wasn't planning on giving him the satisfaction, so I hummed in response and left the hut.

 _So much for getting changed._ I hadn't been willing to even consider changing as long as there was one of the boys within a twelve mile radius. After the previous night it had seemed reasonable.

As I left, I noticed Piggy's disappointment. I have always been fairly intuitive -or I liked to think so, at least- and something inside me could tell that his disappointment wasn't about his name- it was about being left alone.

As I aimlessly trailed along the beach, I saw Ralph walking alongside Simon, discussing something animatedly. I caught his eye and could feel a small smile unwillingly playing on my lips. I noticed his face reddening as a sly smile graced it. I began to walk towards him, deciding to talk to him about the previous night- until something poked my back.

I impatiently turned around and saw Jack with a spear in hand. "Don't worry, I didn't poke you with the pointy end," he smirked, moving to the space between Ralph and I, thus blocking any view of him.

"How considerate of you." I rose to my tip-toes in an attempt to see over his head. I was taller than most girls my age, but he still easily over-towered me.

His head turned to where I was trying to face and he frowned in disapproval. "I have to say, I thought you had better taste," he chastised. "I mean, you made the right choice for chief and for who to bring to the plane- it all seemed to go downhill from there I'm afraid."

"And who are you to talk about taste?" I countered. "I think I'll refrain from taking advice from a boy who enjoys spending his time hunting pigs with pointy sticks," I huffed, gesturing to his spear as sarcastically as I could manage.

"You haven't tried it. You read a whole lotta books, so aren't you supposed to be open to new things and not judge things before you know more about them?" The corners of his lips twisted into the smuggest smile I've ever seen. He was puffed up with ego and was clearly extremely proud of his response.

"You seriously want me to go hunting?" Before, I had thought that he'd meant it as a joke, because apparently females hunting, or doing anything active for that matter, was completely preposterous- at least to most people.

"Yeah, why not?" he replied, staring at me expectantly. Now I was trapped. If I said no, then I would be the typical girl they all thought I was and I would never escape the mundane tasks such as watching the littluns. Hunting couldn't be as bad as that, especially if it was just once.

He stabbed his spear into the sand, absentmindedly twisting it around as he waited for a response. I desperately racked my head for a response, some sort of excuse, anything. There was a piercing scream, which caused both Jack and I to abruptly turn and try to find the source. Thousands of thoughts seemed to flitter through my mind, I even entertained the notion of a beastie for a moment.

Jack elbowed my ribs roughly, causing a sharp pain, until he pointed towards a group of littluns and I was distracted from any pain. There was a small crowd of them, about four or five, and they were pushing each other into the sea and squealing as they did so, as if what they were doing was the most hilarious thing ever thought of.

"I'll go."

His face broke into a grin as he grabbed my arm, seemingly about to drag me over to his hunters. That was until I noticed a mop of blonde hair in front of us.

"What are you doing?" Ralph's question was clearly aimed at Jack and the Chief's manners seemed non-existent as he ferociously snarled the question, the hate evident in his voice.

Jack ignored the question, and Ralph's entire presence for that matter, and simply tugged my arm, urging me onwards. I wanted to speak to Ralph, but the more I thought about hunting, the more it appealed to me. I couldn't deny that it sounded exciting, and I had always thought that my life lacked excitement. Even when stranded on this island, I felt like I hadn't really done anything; nothing that would make a good story anyways. I'd always dreamed of seeing the world and having adventures like the ones in my books, and that wasn't going to happen by staying comfortably with Ralph, I was going to make it happen by hunting with Jack.

Ralph halted us, authoritatively grabbing Jack's arm, releasing his grip on me. "I asked you a question, I'm still chief." The snarl was gone from his voice now, it was ice-cold and completely void of emotion.

"Well it's none of your business, _chief,"_ Jack countered sourly. " _I'm_ chief of the hunters." He shook his arm from Ralph's grip and narrowed his eyes, locking him in a glare.

"Audrey isn't a hunter," was his quick response.

"Yes I am," I spoke up, "at least for today I am."

"We need you _here._ I thought you weren't interested in hunting," the hurt was evident in Ralph's voice, which in turn made me bite my lip in guilt, but I wasn't about to stop now. Jack was cockily smiling as he leant against a nearby tree, amusedly watching our exchange.

"Don't you think it could be exciting?" I asked, stepping closer to Ralph. Memories of the previous night flashed through my mind in the close proximity. The way I could _feel_ his eyes on me, the way it had tasted, even the feeling it had stirred in me.

"No. You said yourself that it's just boys with sticks," he sighed, his gaze unflinching.

"Well now it won't just be boys, will it?" I countered with a smile, sure that he would smile at that too. He didn't.

"Trust me, I'm no boy," Jack spoke up arrogantly. "I can prove it if you'd like," he added with a wink.

At that, Ralph's hands clenched into fists and he moved his face even closer to mine, just as close as he had been last night. "Don't go with him." His voice was different now; it was soft, almost pleading. He didn't understand that I had to; I couldn't bare idly sitting around camp, I had to _do_ something.

"I'll be back before you've noticed I've gone," I promised, leaning in and kissing him on the cheek before leaving with Jack.

* * *

"I'll do yours red," Jack declared, dipping his fingers into a red substance and delicately applying it to my face.

He explained that it was "war paint" and the hunters wore it to camouflage, so that the animals wouldn't recognise them as human. I believed that it worked, I couldn't even recognise most of them and I had been living with them on this island for however long we were there. Even Jack could only be distinguished by his fiery red hair; other than that his face was just spirals of blue, red and green. He had all three colours because he was "Chief of the Hunters" as he had declared himself.

The paint was cold, which I realised when painting Bill's face, but when Jack put it on me his fingertips were warm to the touch and my face heated in response. I was more than grateful for the paint, it seemed to completely cover me up, concealing any emotions or feelings of any sort. I felt free.

"How do I look?" I asked jokingly when he was finished.

"Like one of us," he smiled in response.

"Alright, are you useless bastards ready to hunt?" Jack roared, raising his fist in excitement, his body running on adrenaline.

I cringed at the curse, not used to hearing such words used. However, the name-calling didn't seem to bother the hunters, it strangely seemed to increase their morale.

"Aye!" they simultaneously responded, and I found myself joining in. We raised our fists in the air and shouted at the top of our lungs and for the first time since being on the island, I didn't feel out of place. I didn't even feel like me, I don't know what I felt. Perhaps the excitement of being a hunter, or the mask that the paint provided offered a sort of numbness, a feeling of not being quite there. It wasn't unpleasant, it was quite the contrary. I felt powerful, like I could do anything. And I loved it.

We marched into the jungle, all of us behind Jack, but other than that there were no orders. I wasn't standing out as the only girl either. I was one part of a large, chaotic mass who were ungoverned, free to do anything.

They were singing songs that I was unfamiliar with, but I didn't mind, I was happy to listen to the music as I marched along in the middle of the crowd. As we marched further into the jungle, Jack pulled me up beside him, right to the front. At first, I was hesitant, but after a very short time I learned to love being at the front, leading rather than following. We were rowdy and ungovernable right up until a pig was spotted. A silence immediately dissolved upon us.

Jack led with Roger and I slightly behind him, both fighting for dominance, for the space closest to the front- to Jack.

We divided into three groups, and I was put with Jack and Roger. As much as I may have disliked Roger, I was pleased with my group. We undoubtedly had the best chances of catching the pig; if Jack and Roger couldn't catch it, no-one could.

I heard a rustle in the bushes and instinctively perked up. Without thinking, I stalked after it, forgetting about Jack and Roger. As I approached the bushes, I could see the leaves moving and I knew that it wasn't just the wind. I raised the spear I'd been given and was about to thrust it into the bush, when I was pushed. I clumsily tumbled, snapping my spear in half and toppling over, landing in the bush.

My head spun and my muscles ached. My face was flushing with shame, but I was comforted with the realisation that nobody would notice through the paint. I took a deep breath and pulled myself up until I was face to face with Roger.

"What were you thinking? I was about to get the pig! What the hell was that for?" I asked, fuming with anger. I was snapped out of the trance that hunting had put me under; I was still the only girl and I was still the outsider.

He had the gall to _smile._ It wasn't even a smirk, it was a sweeter smile than I had ever thought him capable of. "I'm sorry, I tripped and must have accidentally fallen on you," he apologised, his tone sickeningly saccharine.

"Bullshit!" I shouted, furiously walking closer to him, getting right up in his face. That was the worst word that I'd ever used in my entire life and saying it seemed to fill me with more power. It was then that, for the first time, I realised the full extent of freedom that I had on the island. There were no adults to chastise me and tell me that I wasn't acting like a proper lady.

At that, his smile turned into a mocking grin. "Stop sticking your nose in where you don't belong. _I'm_ a hunter, _I_ split off from the group with Jack. _You_ stay where you belong- with the littluns."

"If that's what you think, then you don't know the first thing about me," I seethed. I wasn't afraid of him and I was never going to be.

"I know that you're a girl. That's all I need to know to know where you belong."

At that, I raised my fist to strike him. I hadn't even thought about how physically weak I was, and he managed to overpower me with very little struggle. I frantically dug my nails into his wrist as he pinned me up against a tree. He didn't react at all. I could see the visible marks that my nails were making on his skin, even clawing some skin off, but he did nothing except calmly draw out a knife.

"Why couldn't you have just stayed at camp? You have Ralph, why did you come here? Why couldn't you have just left us alone?" He held the knife against my neck and paused as if waiting for a response, but what did he except me to say? I hadn't the faintest notion of what he was talking about, I didn't understand. My body was paralysed in shock, leaving me too shell-shocked to form an answer even if I could think of anything to say.

Suddenly, his hold on me relaxed and he removed the knife, storing it away carefully. My head was spinning again and I felt as if I was about to faint, but I refused to give Roger the satisfaction. I breathed deeply and stood up proudly, as if I hadn't been petrified just moments ago. I heard footsteps and realised why Roger had let me go. I looked up and saw Jack, his paint smudged and messy.

"Where did you two go?" he asked, his eyes darting suspiciously between the two of us. I knew what he was thinking, I could see it in his eyes. _As if._

"I was about to get the pig when _he-"_ I stopped when I saw the look in Roger's eyes. It was pure terror. Not like when he had scared me, this was real horror.

I didn't understand why then, and I still don't now, but I protected him. "The pig was about to get me, but Roger saw and helped me. He almost killed it too, but it got away." Jack seemed satisfied by that, and Roger looked at me, his face an odd combination of confusion and gratitude.

"You're okay?" Jack asked concernedly, glancing down at my legs. Until then I hadn't even noticed them, but as I followed his gaze I saw that they were scratched from my ankles right up to my knees. The right one had a longer, deeper scrape that I only just seemed to notice the pain of.

"Peachy," I replied. "But can we head back?" His face contorted in confliction; he clearly didn't want to leave without success. "Or I could go back by myself? I think I've done my leg in," I suggested with a slight sigh. Still no reply. "Roger could come back with me, so I would be safe," I proposed, unsure of why I was volunteering to spend time with Roger. I suppose I felt more secure after I'd lied to Jack about him.

Something lit up in his eyes and he shook his head almost violently. "No, he can stay. I'll bring you back, you'll need someone stronger than that fat head," he offered with a chivalrous smile.

I was unable to hide my shock at his offer. He was actually willing to stop hunting _just_ to help me get back to camp. _Maybe I was wrong about him after all._

"Are you sure?" I asked cautiously, unable to truly believe that he would momentarily forget about his obsession with catching a pig.

"C'mon before I change my mind," he grunted, leading the way back to camp. He seemed grumpy at having to leave his hunters, but I followed him without complaint, biting my lip as I put weight onto my sore leg.

We continued to walk like that for a while, him grumpily walking in front while I trailed behind, trying my best to keep up with his fast pace.

Eventually the pain in my leg was getting to me so much that I had to sit down. I dropped to the ground, basking in the relief of resting my legs. "Won't you wait for just a moment?" I asked frustratedly as he continued to tramp ahead.

He snapped his neck around as he halted. There was something frightening about him with the paint on, something about it made him appear dark and forbidding, especially when he was brooding as he was then. I rose to my feet again, already bored with sitting still. I walked towards him and rubbed the paint off from half of his face, leaving one side masked and one bare.

"What's wrong?" I asked, looking intently into his eyes, trying to distinguish what he was feeling. Perhaps I wasn't as intuitive as I'd thought. My thumb still traced over the cheek that I'd rubbed the paint off of. "You didn't have to come with me, I'd have been more than happy to come back on my own and you obviously wanted to keep hunting."

He roughly shrugged my hand away, causing me to stumble slightly. If he wanted to be sulky, fine, but that didn't mean he could be rude. I shoved him as forcefully as I could, and succeeded in making him falter slightly, which I counted as an achievement until he pushed me to the ground.

"What are you doing with Ralph?" He asked, his voice almost inaudible, coming out more as a whisper. He had me pinned to the ground, his hands were over my wrists keeping them firmly planted on the ground and he was sitting over me. I could tell his whole weight wasn't on me because it didn't hurt, I knew he could hurt me right then if he'd wanted to.

"What do you mean?" I asked, blinking in confusion. Had we been acting suspicious earlier? I hadn't thought that we'd revealed anything. Was it because I kissed Ralph on the cheek? I hadn't meant that as anything really, just a small gesture. And what was Jack doing pinning me down for it?

" _Last night,"_ he flared.

"Did you _follow_ me?" Surely he didn't, would he really have done that?

"I wanted to apologise, I was going to tell you something important, but then you kissed _him,"_ he released his grip on me and began nervously running his hands through his hair, tugging at the ends. Even when he was more or less off of me, I couldn't seem to find it in me to get up.

"Tell me what?" I asked, my curiosity overtaking any sense, deeming me unable to consider saying anything at all appropriate.

"I was going to say sorry and tell you I actually liked you, and not just for kissin'," he muttered, the unpainted side of his face reddening as he rose to his feet and paced around anxiously.

I sat up and pulled myself to my feet. "Well you _had_ just peeked at me when I was changing, you can't exactly blame me."

"So you don't actually like him? It was just because you were mad, that's fine-"

"I don't know what I feel… I think we ought to just get back to camp," I suggested, attempting to ease the tension and get away from the awkward situation.

"I don't believe that," he stated, moving towards me again. I backed up until I hit a tree and I was cornered. He kept approaching until our faces were almost touching, so I shoved him back and scampered away from the tree. "I know that you like me and I know that you know it."

"You're insufferable," I retaliated, kicking him this time, causing him to groan in response. As I raised my hands to push him again, he seized my wrists and backed me up against a tree again, raising my arms above my head.

"But you still want to kiss me," he smirked. "No matter how much you try to tell yourself you don't, you do."

"Every time I start to like you, even just a little, you remind me of why I hate you," I opposed, kneeing him in the groin. He groaned louder this time and released his grip on me. I took the opportunity to pin him to the ground, ensuring that I held his wrists too tightly for him to move.

"Hate's a strong word," he gritted. "And if you hate me so much then why'd you come hunting? You even have the paint," he was still smirking smugly, unfazed by the fact that he was pinned to the ground.

I grumbled in response, unable to think of a witty abuse to respond with. I let go of one of his wrists and pinched his arm, hoping to receive some sort of a reaction from him. I got my wish, but it wasn't the reaction that I'd hoped for.

He leaned in and kissed me, simultaneously flipping me over and changing our positions. The most infuriating thing was that I didn't stop him- I didn't want to. As his tongue moved into my mouth, instead of moving away in repulsion, I mimicked his actions, running my hands through his hair and completely forgetting myself.

He was pressing his weight on me then, but it didn't hurt like I'd suspected it would. It did, however, rile me up more and all I felt was pure heat. It was like electricity, but a maddening kind, one that made me lose all control of myself. It wasn't until he abruptly pulled away that I was able to think again.

"I told you," he reminded smugly, his eyes gleaming with self-satisfied amusement.

 _I hated him._

* * *

 **A/N**

Sorry I took so long to update, but thank you so much to everyone who's reading and for all of your feedback :) I've already gotten the next chapter written, so hopefully it'll be updated a lot faster next time.


	10. Chapter 10

Everything was much quieter after that. I didn't know what to say anymore; I was completely shamefaced. As for Jack, he must have satisfied his amusement, as instead of mockingly attempting to provoke me, he just walked smoothly onwards with an infuriating smirk on his stupid face.

"How's your leg?" he asked after a while, looking genuinely concerned, which only confused me more.

"I can make it over, it'll be a piece of cake," I assured with a somewhat forced smile.

He looked unconvinced. "If you say so."

And with that, we lugged our way through the jungle. There wasn't much conversation as we walked back, I didn't know what to say after earlier; I hated myself for not pushing him off. I liked Ralph, he was actually nice and didn't infuriate me every time I looked at him. So what had I been thinking? To my surprise, Jack didn't mention Ralph or how I hadn't resisted, how I had kissed him back. The most he asked me about was why I bothered to brush my hair.

"Because I'm not a savage," was my reply. "And just because I'm on this island, doesn't mean I can allow my hair to become a tangled mess."

"Do you seriously care about the state of your hair?" he asked disbelievingly with a slight chuckle, his icy blue eyes piercing into me.

I looked down, avoiding his stare. "I suppose it's for a feeling of normalcy. If I let my hair get tattered as well as my clothes, then that would be giving into the island, and I'm not willing to do that yet."

"Why don't you stop trying to escape and start trying to enjoy it?"

We were quiet again after that, up until Jack noticed the strain I was walking with and paused, turning around. "You sure you're okay?"

"Positive," I answered with a smile, biting my lip slightly.

He stepped in front of me, his back facing me. "Get up," he grunted impatiently.

"Are you serious?" I scoffed, taking a slight step backwards.

He turned around impatiently, "yeah, it's a serious piggyback. Are you getting up or continuing to stumble around? You're slowing us down."

I chose the former and after shooting him a glare, jumped onto his back, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"You're heavier than you look," he muttered as he carried me onwards.

* * *

Only about a few minutes later, there was rustling in the bushes. After my previous experience with running after noises in bushes, I was in no mood to chase after this one. Jack didn't share my opinion. He dropped me to the ground, causing me to land with a harsh thud as he whisked towards the bush like a moth drawn to a flame.

I stared daggers into his back as he raised his fists in anticipation, having had to discard of his spear to pick me up in the first place.

"You couldn't have spared a few seconds to put me down gently?" I asked grumpily, wanting nothing more than to be carried by him again and just to get back to the beach.

I began to hear chanting, although the words seemed to blur together and were undistinguishable. That was when a pig tore through the bushes, pushing past Jack. It was being closely followed by the hunters, who were brandishing their spears riotously as they shot after it. I could now hear their chant and it sent shivers down my spine, though not necessarily unpleasant, it was somewhat exciting, exhilarating even.

" _Kill the beast! Cut her throat! Spill her blood!"_

As the pig dashed along, I frantically reached for a fallen spear. My hand collided with Jack's, both seeking the weapon. He looked at me confidently, so sure that I would drop the spear, awarding it to him. Instead, I gripped it as tightly as I could, shoved Jack out of the way and pulled myself to my feet.

I forgot about the pain of my leg and my wish to return to the beach as I darted towards the rest of the hunters, spear poised in a state of exhilarated euphoria. As my pace picked up, I collided with Roger, pushing us both to the ground. He opened his mouth, presumably to shout some kind of abuse, but I silenced him with a sharp glare as I again rose to my feet to continue the chase.

I shoved my way past a few of the hunters, desperately elbowing my way past to gain closer proximity to the prey. I was overtaken with an animalist instinct, something completely foreign to me. As I pursued the pig, it awakened feelings I didn't know I'd even possessed. I _wanted_ to hunt it, I _wanted_ catch it, I _wanted_ to kill it.

I heard rapid footsteps behind me and darted my head around until I saw the fiery hair and half-painted face of Jack. I simply gave him a slight smirk and continued to creep forwards; my pace slower as the distance between the pig and I decreased. I raised my spear and hurled it, piercing the pig's back and causing a streaming blood flow. The pig squealed and after giving a slight jump, ran forwards at a much slower, struggled limp with my spear stuck in its back.

As Jack caught up with me, I noticed that he was clutching a spear, which he had surely snatched from one of the hunters. He grabbed my hand in his unarmed one and pulled me after the pig, forcing me to run faster than I'd thought I could- just like when we'd raced through the jungle to find the plane. It felt like a lifetime ago, like so much had happened between then and now. _But surely it couldn't truly have been all that long ago?_

"Nice job, firecracker," he commended as we ran, his voice barely audible above my beating heart and the hunters' chanting in the background.

We easily caught up with the pig, the spear-wound having greatly slowed it. As we creeped closer, Jack let go of my hand and raised his spear in anticipation. With a light dash, he grabbed the pig, thrusting his spear into it repeatedly. Stabbing it over and over, again and again. The blood oozed from it, making me dizzy as I watched it trickle down the lifeless creature. The hunters caught up, all shouting erratically and running to join their leader, feverishly stabbing at the pig.

My head was spinning as I watched what I had helped contribute to and I could again feel the pain pulsing through my leg. My light-headedness caused me to lose focus until I was brought back to attention by Jack.

He was kneeling in front of me, waving his hand in front of my face and calling my name. I swatted his hand away and narrowed my eyes at him curiously. "What are you doing, Merridew?"

"Tryna get you back with us, you've been sitting in a trance for ages," he answered, shooting a glance backwards towards Roger. He stood to his feet and extended a hand. "C'mon, let's go show Blondie that we're real hunters."

I took his hand with a smile and we all headed towards the mountains to roast the pig over the fire. As we marched back, chanting, I noticed that Jack had repainted his face so that it was again completely masked.

" _Kill the pig! Cut her throat! Spill her blood!"_

The chanting continued; all of us in that animalistic trance, all the way up the mountain. I had fallen slightly behind Jack, so I was more in the middle than the front. Roger was back in his usual place beside his friend. A boy whose name I learned was Robert, noticed my limping and offered me his arm to lean on, which I readily accepted with a grateful smile. Honestly, I'd never previously even noticed Robert, I hadn't even recognised him when he approached me. He had mouse brown hair and wide brown eyes, making him look overwhelming innocent and amiable. He looked around the same age as me, with a few months difference at the most.

When we reached the top, the chattering got louder and the chanting increased.

" _Kill the pig! Cut her throat! Spill her blood!"_

I stayed in the centre of the crowd, but with the aid of Robert, wormed my way around so that I could see what was going on. I saw Ralph with Piggy, Maurice and Simon next to him. They looked incredibly sombre.

" _Kill the pig! Cut her throat! Spill her blood!"_

Apparently, Jack didn't recognise the mood of the group and was excitedly babbling to Ralph about how he'd hunted and killed the pig.

"I told you I would catch one! And I'll catch more too- we'll feast on meat tonight!" he blathered, grinning from ear to ear. The rest of the hunters excitedly joined, each adding new details of the hunt.

"We crept up-"

"We were oh so quiet!"

"Then Jack stabbed it with his spear-"

"It was splendid!"

"I stabbed it too- dozens of times!"

Ralph was silent.

Jack looked slightly fazed by this, but he shook it off and continued to speak of his hunt. "I _told_ you I would catch a pig and that's just what I did! I told you I wasn't scared-"

"You let the fire go out," Ralph seethed, his voice almost silent, but fuming with rage.

 _I'd completely forgotten about the fire._

Jack frowned, visibly disconcerted at Ralph's disinterest in all of his efforts, in the results that he'd finally achieved. "That's fine, we'll light it again now. You should've been there Ralph!"

"You let the fire go out," Ralph repeated stoically. His usually kind, affectionate eyes looked empty.

Jack's eyes narrowed and his face contorted with obvious displeasure. He'd been striving for a pig since he'd arrived on the island, and Ralph was still more concerned with his fire. "I needed all my hunters," he explained, shooting a glance at the twins, the ones who were supposed to be on fire duty. "We _got a pig."_ He stressed the last words, emphasising what he'd achieved.

I pushed my way forwards, eager to learn why Ralph was so annoyed. Surely he knew how little effort it would take to relight the fire, and it had only been out for an hour or so. I managed to get to the front of the hunters and despite Ralph's solemnity, my face broke out into a wide grin of excitement.

Ralph looked right at me, his face a picture of disapproval. He was glaring at me, at the mask covering my face. I flushed in shame- it was as if he could tell exactly what I'd done.

"There was a ship."

My heart dropped. The paint on my face seemed to crumple away and my grin immediately evaporated. The excited babblings of the hunters was silenced, and a few of the younger ones began blubbering uncontrollably, much to the disgust of Jack, who ferociously snarled at them to shut up.

I tried to step away from the hunters to stand beside Ralph, but Jack's arm subtly blocked my way, leaving me unable to move without making a spectacle of it.

"There was a ship, it passed right by here. We could have gone home!" The lack of emotion had completely left Ralph's voice and expression: his body radiated rage, he was practically screaming at Jack. He moved towards him, puffing up as if preparing for a fight.

Jack did the same, but made no reply.

"You said you would keep the fire going and you didn't!" Ralph was bellowing now, glaring venomously at all of us.

Piggy stumbled forward, pushing his glasses up. "You and your blood Jack Merridew! You and your hunting!" He was swiftly pushed aside by Ralph. Unfazed, he continued, "and Audrey! What were _you_ doing with him? You at least, I'd thought had more sense!" This time, it was Jack who pushed him, and it was much more roughly too.

"We needed meat!" Jack countered angrily, once again squaring up to Ralph.

"I'm chief, you're supposed to do what I say. You _voted_ for me," Ralph argued, his face reddening in frustration.

" _I_ didn't vote for you, my hunters didn't vote for you, _Audrey_ didn't vote for you," Jack reminded tauntingly.

"That's enough!" I exclaimed vehemently, stepping between Ralph and Jack –before they began fighting that time. I had a hand on each of them, holding them apart. They were breathing heavily, still filled with energy and eager for a fight. "We messed up, we should have kept the fire lit-"

" _We_? So you're one of _them_ now?" Ralph asked, his hurt evident.

"No that's not what I meant, I just-" I stopped myself, unable to describe what I'd meant because if I didn't even know what I meant, how was I supposed to explain it to Ralph?

Thankfully, Piggy broke in. "You ought to be ashamed of yourself Jack Merridew- We've all got jobs, we all do ours. All except you and your hunters!"

The littluns were wailing in horror, unable to cope with the thought of having been so close to getting the chance to get home, then having it so cruelly snatched away from them.

It all seemed to drive Jack wild. He shoved me aside, focusing his attention on Piggy. He walked right up to him and punched him in the stomach. I hurried over to him, Ralph close behind me. I kneeled next to Piggy, attempting to comfort him, while Ralph approached Jack.

However, Jack simply laughed and pulled Piggy up by the collar of his shirt, holding him so that they were facing each other.

"You need to learn your place, _fatty,"_ he snarled, tossing him aside. As Piggy fell, his glasses tumbled to the ground with a piercing smash.

At that, Ralph finally did what he'd been longing to do for a long time. He punched Jack in the jaw, causing him to stumble backwards, allowing him the opportunity to strike him again. He took it, this time punching him in the stomach, just like Jack had done to Piggy, just like he'd accidentally done to me not all that long ago. He coolly turned around and returned to Piggy, picking up his glasses for him.

To Piggy's dismay, he realised one side had been shattered. "You broke them!" he wailed, sorrowful tears streaming down his cheeks. "Now I've only got one eye!"

Jack rose again, his face a mess of blood and paint. "You shut up _Piggy_! Or you'll end up like that _Piggy_ over there," he threatened, madly gesturing to the stiff, inanimate pig that we'd hunted. "That I can promise," he added in a frenzied snarl.

Ralph stood to his feet, having returned Piggy's glasses to their rightful owner. "That was a dirty trick."

I latched onto Jack's arm, desperately attempting to calm him. "Jack, you're better than this," I pleaded in a lowered voice, quiet enough so only he could hear. " _Please._ Please just leave it, don't make this worse."

His face wrinkled in thought and everything was silent. It seemed as if time had frozen. The hunters were engrossed in the conflict, anxiously hanging on to every word muttered.

He didn't reply directly to me, but he faced Ralph and with a look of genuine sincerity, apologised. "You're right, chief. I'm sorry. I should have kept the fire going, I'll light another one right now and I'll keep it going this time." He looked down at me with a smile and wrapped me up in his arms. I shivered slightly, but I wasn't about to do anything to disturb the peace. _Unless that's what Jack was trying to do, only subtly._ I looked to Ralph and his eyes were burning, like a venomous, green fire.

In response to the apology, the hunters erupted into applause, each filled with admiration towards Jack at his act of decent maturity. They looked to Ralph, awaiting an act of equal decency, but it didn't come.

"That was a dirty trick." He repeated sourly, his eyes still on fire, glaring at Jack with pure hatred.

I felt Jack's arms tighten around me and as he pulled me closer I could feel his breath creeping along my neck. He whispered something in my ear, but I couldn't hear what it was. I was deafened by Ralph's furious gaze.

Everyone was silent, unsure of what to do with the chief's reluctance to make amends. He continued to stare, seeming not even to blink.

"Light the fire," Ralph bit eventually, his eyes still unblinking, his stare unwavering.

Eager to have something to do, something to break the tension even slightly, the majority rushed to begin lighting the fire. Jack was still holding on to me and began barking orders at everybody, not bothering to contribute anything himself.

"What are you trying to do?" I asked in a whisper, glancing nervously up at him. My heart was pounding in my chest and I had that same odd feeling Jack always evoked in me. I felt strangely safe in his arms, and yet I felt as if I was in a dangerous situation, like I was doing something I shouldn't.

He didn't reply, he just sat there and brushed a stray strand of hair behind my ear. I couldn't help relaxing at his touch, even letting a small smile escape my lips. I tried to fight it, but he kept rubbing my arm or brushing my hair with his fingers and it was undeniably soothing- even if it was Jack.

As most immersed themselves in lighting the fire, Ralph sat still, completely unmoving. It was almost frightening. The glare seemed stuck to his face, so chilling that nobody dared ask him to move. They ended up building the fire a few yards away in a place much less convenient.

I felt bad for not doing anything to help, but I was still trapped in Jack's arms and I couldn't find the strength to leave the comforting heat to fumble around with sticks in an attempt to light the fire.

Eventually, the fire was lit and the boys began roasting the pig. That managed to grab Jack's attention enough to make him get up. After making an umpteenth snide comment directed towards Ralph which was, as always, met with silence, he left to go yell orders at everybody. I inwardly cursed myself for missing his presence.

"So…" I began, making a pathetic attempt at conversation.

To my surprise, he didn't ignore me. Yes, it was only a brief reply, but it was still a reply. "So…"

I caught his eye for a moment, but he quickly lowered his head and his hair hung in careless waves, concealing his eyes from view.

"There was really a ship?" I asked with a sigh, awaiting his sarcastic response. However, to my surprise he wasn't sarcastic or bitter. Just sad.

"Yes, there was really a ship," he answered with an even deeper sigh, his head still hung in despair. He looked miserable and hopeless, completely unlike the Ralph I was used to seeing. I could faintly notice him shaking, it was almost as if he were crying. "I spotted it," he informed, looking up again. "Me and Maurice were swimming, and I saw the ship; he did shortly after. I ran up here before really thinking about anything, I had a bad feeling. As if I knew Jack would let the fire go out." Until then, I hadn't even really noticed that he wasn't wearing a shirt. He must have ran straight from the water without pausing for even a second.

I scooched over so that I was sitting beside him. I wanted to comfort him, but I didn't know what to say; I was never good at that sort of thing. I just sat beside him, awkwardly wringing my hands until he spoke up again.

"We're never getting back home, are we?"

"Don't talk like that, of course we will. If one ship came, there'll be more to follow. I know it," I assured, and I honestly believed it; or at least fooled myself into believing it.

There was silence for a while, but eventually Ralph spoke up again. "Look at you though, you fit in with them perfectly." I blinked in confusion until I realised he was referring to the paint. Just before I was about to reply, he raised his thumb and began rubbing the paint off of my face, just as I had done with Jack earlier.

"Not really," I protested. "I'm still a lady."

"I didn't say you weren't," he assured with a meek smile, his face brightening in contrast to his earlier disposition. He frowned slightly before continuing, "but what happened with Jack?" he asked quietly, looking deeply into my eyes, searching for answers.

We were interrupted by Jack's calls, beckoning us over. "The meat's ready!" he announced proudly, his voice dripping with self-satisfied pride.

I rose to my feet immediately, but Ralph was more hesitant. I took his hand in mine and urged him towards the meat, my own hunger getting the better of me. The boys were in a circle, most with a stick in hand. They had put slabs of meat onto sticks and were holding them over the fire; most seemed to be roasting themselves more than the meat, but they were all too hungry to care.

Jack approached immediately, frowning at our entwined hands. He held out a stick containing a cooked piece of meat, offering it to Ralph, who wordlessly shrugged it away. Jack was livid at that.

"Eat!" he roared, waving the meat at him. "I got you meat! Eat it!"

Everyone was staring now, gingerly watching to see what Ralph's next action would be.

He snatched the meat from Jack and handed it to me. "Wouldn't feel right eating while you're still hungry," he explained simply, before retreating to re-join Piggy.

I held the stick in my hand, unsure of what to do as I looked from Ralph's retreating form to Jack's enraged one.

"I was going to give you some," he assured, eating his own portion of meat. "As much as you wanted. I just had to make Ralph eat some- once everyone sees him eating meat that _I_ supplied, they'll know I should've been chief."

I simply nodded in response.

"You voted for me, so you want to help, right? You don't have to keep being nice to him, people will think you actually like him," he scoffed. "But do get him to eat this," he urged, handing me another stick with meat that he had snatched from a littlun.

"Alright," I complied. Jack was being crazy; Ralph eating a little meat wouldn't prove anything, nothing except that he was human and needed food just like all of us. With that, I scurried off to Ralph and sat between him and Piggy, feeling much more comfortable there than with Jack and all his chief talk.

"Here," I offered, handing the meat to Ralph. "You need to eat something, I've got some." He darted his eyes around searchingly, then quickly took the food, scoffing it down in seconds.

I still held mine in my hand. _I'd helped catch this, my spear hit it._

"What about me?" Piggy asked, looking to Jack. "Don't I get none?"

"You didn't help get it," Jack replied disinterestedly.

"No more did Ralph, no more did Simon, no more did-"

"Would you just _shut up,_ Fatty?" Jack retorted flatly.

"Here, take mine," I donated, passing my meat into his eager hands, which he readily took. Unlike Ralph, he savoured it, clearly enjoying each morsel.

That didn't please Jack at all. "No, you have to eat. You hunted it too." He tossed a stick onto my lap, anxiously watching my reaction. He clearly wasn't being reasonable, something about the meat alit a controlling, possessive spark even more flammable than his usual domineering personality.

"Thanks," I smiled sweetly, gratefully taking the offering and eating it to appease him. I couldn't deny the divinity of it, I hadn't realised how much I'd wanted meat until I'd had it.

Jack smiled, ostensibly satisfied. He left for the moment, once again leaving me with Ralph and Piggy.

"What's gotten into him?" Ralph asked, shooting him a suspicious glance.

"He's always been like that," Simon spoke up from his shadowed corner, causing me to jump at his sudden presence. "It's just that the island allows him to let it out."

"What I don't understand is why everyone likes him so goddamn much," Ralph lamented.

"Because he lets them do what they want," I answered with a shrug.

"They're childish," Piggy observed. "We need rules, or it will go to chaos."

"I know it will," Ralph sighed, running his hands through his hair in tired frustration. "We need a meeting. We need to set things straight, let them know that I'm still chief, and I'm not giving up without a fight."

I vaguely heard Simon reply, but my attention was diverted back to the hunters. They were ecstatically relating the details of the hunt, each adding something new and undoubtedly fabricated. The twins jumped up and began running round each other in excited circles. The rest joined in, some chanting again, some making pig-dying noises, and some shouting whatever obscenities came to mind.

Maurice dove into the centre, making squealing and snorting noises. _Pretending to be the pig._ The rest chased after him, clutching their spears and pretending to beat him.

"Kill the pig! Cut her throat! Bash her in!"

I turned to Ralph and noticed his eyes burning with the same flame as before. He clearly wanted to join, but his principles and pride prevented him. Midway through their chanting, he abruptly stood up.

"I'm calling a meeting."

Slowly, almost one by one, they quieted, then stopped, staring at him curiously.

"It doesn't matter if it has to last until it's dark. Everyone down to the beach. When I blow the conch, go to the platform."

With that, he turned and walked off by himself, down the mountain. I looked to Piggy and Simon, but they just shrugged, unable to provide an explanation.

"He doesn't look so good," Piggy commented nervously, shuddering as he looked to Ralph's departing form.

"Who would be?" Simon asked, his eyes wide and darting all around, as if on the lookout for something. "I don't think any of us are."

"I'm going after him," I announced and without waiting for a response, I ran off after Ralph.


	11. Chapter 11

I ran down the mountain, trying to catch up with Ralph before I lost sight of him, but in my hurry I neglected to give any thought to my sore leg and in a moment of piercing pain, I lost my balance and skidded down the mountain. In my frantic panic, I tumbled over and pushed into Ralph, knocking him to the ground and landing on top of him, leaving us in a mess of arms and legs at the bottom of the mountain.

"Sorry," I murmured, unable to suppress the nervous giggle that emitted from my lips.

I was still lying on his back when he muttered something incoherently into the ground, unable to push his head up without pushing me off. That's when I remembered our compromising position and awkwardly got off him, standing up and offering him a hand.

He took it and with my help, pulled himself to his feet. "What was that for? Did Jack send you to assassinate me?" he asked with a chuckle, although appearing only half joking.

"He tried, but the pay wasn't tempting enough," I smirked.

He laughed at that, and it seemed like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders- at least for a moment. But he almost immediately assumed his downcast disposition once again and his laughter was silenced.

I couldn't help frowning at that; he always seemed so sad lately. "What are you thinking about?" I asked as we walked further into the jungle.

"It doesn't matter," he replied without looking at me; his eyes were dead-set on some spot in front of him.

I frowned again, but unprepared to give up, I continued. "C'mon, you can tell me," I smiled, stepping in front of him and blocking his path, hence forcing him to give me a real answer.

He backed away and slumped down at the bottom of a tree, sitting with his back against it. He looked up at me as if inviting me over. He probably wasn't, but I decided to pretend that he did, so I sat beside him and stared up at him expectantly until he spoke. "It's this island," he sighed. "Everything's breaking up."

He was looking at me intently, and I knew that he was looking for reassurance, but I didn't know how to respond. It was true, everything _was_ breaking up. The majority seemed to be taking Jack's side in things, even when he challenged Ralph outright, and nobody wanted to help with huts or gathering supplies except for Simon and me. Even I much preferred hunting, if I was being completely honest with myself.

"Then you have to show them that you're still chief," I advised. "You're a better chief than Jack would be, I think everyone knows that deep down. That's why they voted for you, not him."

"You didn't."

His voice cracked slightly at that, and his face reddened. He looked down at the ground, avoiding my eyes, but still clearly awaiting a response. I had none.

If I, myself didn't know why I voted for Jack, how could I put it into words? There had been an odd sort of attraction that pulled me to him, but I couldn't tell Ralph that. I had voted for Jack against all of my logic, because from the very beginning I knew that that would mean freedom. I think I've always craved freedom, even when fooling myself and everyone around me into thinking I loved being a proper lady and doing exactly what was expected of me. But I didn't. I loved being free and running wildly, even hunting. Anything that would provide a feeling of freedom, assuring me that I could do anything I wanted. What I wanted was adventure, and for that I needed no restraints.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to… It doesn't matter," he said, raising his head up again.

"Why does it bother you so much? You still won the vote and I'm glad you did; you're a good chief," I insisted.

"I might have won the vote, but Jack's won everything else. He's taking everything away from me."

It was during that conversation when it finally dawned on me that this would never work. Jack and Ralph, that is. They couldn't remain in the same group; they wouldn't ever stop trying to best each other, and it could get much more extreme than arguments about keeping the fire lit and hunting. It seemed a toxic situation- two stubborn, tenacious leaders with completely different views and ideas, both unwilling to compromise or submit to anything.

"What do you mean?" I asked, slightly taken aback. Ralph had always seemed so confident, but the boy in front of me now was full of vulnerabilities and insecurities. _What could he think Jack's taken from him? Yes, some boys, particularly the hunters, sided with him often, but Ralph was everyone's real leader._

"You know what's going on, you're not stupid Audrey. Everyone's forgetting about what's important, like the fire, and prioritising things like hunting instead and it's clearly due to Jack's influence. I'm not much of a chief, am I?" I couldn't help feeling accused at the part about hunting, but I ignored it and tried to reassure him.

"He hasn't taken anything away from you Ralph," I said softly, running my hand along his arm.

"What about you?" he whispered so quietly I almost couldn't hear him, and seemed to regret saying anything as soon as he'd uttered it.

"What about me?" I asked weakly.

He avoided eye contact, seeming to look everywhere but at me.

"You like him, don't you?" He asked, the colour flying to his cheeks. His jaw was clenched, but it seemed more from caution than anger.

"I suppose he's alright," I replied, attempting to play the question off. I didn't like questions like that, ones about feelings, ones that had no 'right' answer. Not when it was my feelings in question anyways; I never minded discussing other people's.

He didn't reply, and I knew I owed him a proper answer, so I racked my brain for a response. I did like Jack, but I also hated him. He could be the most exasperating person in the world, but there was something about him, and I knew that there was more to him- there had to be. I loved mysteries and Jack Merridew was certainly that. He could be lively and bossy, but he could also be dark and brooding. I'm not sure if he was ever truly happy, or if his liveliness was just a show he put on. He reminded me of Heathcliff; there was something so tragic about him, even if I didn't know what it was yet, and it drew me in- it all did.

But I also liked Ralph just as much, if not more. Of course he was kind, caring and everything Jack appeared not to be, but there was more to him too. He acted like a true leader, selflessly putting the group's needs above his own, but he had desires and faults just like everybody else. I always relaxed when I talked to him, and he could always make me laugh and when we were in the bathing pool… Well, at that moment when I was looking into his heavy, sorrowful eyes, I wished nothing more than to kiss him again, to make everything else disappear and to feel like I did that night.

I looked up at Ralph and noticed him staring at me intently. He had an expression which suggested he'd just had some sort of epiphany.

"We should probably get to the beach," he suggested, running his hand through his hair. "Before it gets too dark for a meeting."

"Yeah, I suppose we should," I agreed, both grateful and annoyed at the diversion.

His mouth was set in a deep frown as he rose to his feet, and it remained like that the whole walk back.

It was fairly dark by the time we made it back to the beach, but it was still light enough to make out everyone's faces. We must have talked for longer than I'd realised, as when we made it back, everybody else already seemed to be there. Ralph noticed this and immediately picked up the conch, blowing into it urgently. Everyone obediently flocked over to him, that is, apart from Jack, who stood on the outside of the meeting with his arms crossed in clear defiance. He looked displeased, so I made a point of standing beside him on the outside of the triangular meeting place to speak to him.

"I've called a meeting," Ralph began in his authoritative voice, "because things are breaking up. I don't know why, but they are. I've got a lot of things to say and we won't go to sleep until we've discussed everything."

Jack emitted a quiet scoff, but all else was silent as Ralph spoke, most staring at him in open admiration.

"He say anything to you on your little walk down?" Jack asked, elbowing me to gain my attention.

Ralph was talking about drinking water, but it was so dull that as hard as I tried, I was unable to pay attention to what he was saying.

"Nothing of significance," I replied without turning to face him, keeping my eyes on Ralph.

I could tell Jack was smirking. "What? Was he crying about that ship?" He let out a cruel laugh at his quip.

"Leave him alone, Jack. You're still just annoyed because he's the chief, not you," I snapped angrily, turning to glare at him.

He lost his temper at that and furiously grabbed my wrist, twisting it violently until I cried out in pain, alerting the others.

"What are you doing?" Ralph flushed with anger, sharply glaring at Jack and rapidly moving towards us. Jack's grip only tightened at the attention and when I looked into his eyes, all I saw was madness and fury.

Everyone was completely still except for Ralph, Jack and I as Ralph pulled Jack away. I stumbled backwards slightly, but managed to stay on my feet. Jack didn't. When Ralph pushed him, he fell to the ground with a clumsy stumble. After that, everything seemed to kick off at once, making me dizzy just watching the action. Roger jumped to his feet and ran towards Ralph with an odd glint of resentful determination in his eyes. He punched Ralph, but unsuccessfully, as Ralph was quickly able to overpower him.

Jack rose to his feet again and to seemingly everyone's surprise, pulled Roger away from Ralph, telling him something in a lowered voice that instantly calmed him.

Ralph was satisfied at the conclusion and retreated back to continue his speech, but my veins were still pumping with repressed anger. Without considering anything, I grabbed Jack's arm as roughly as I could and, using all of my energy, punched him in the jaw. He shouted out in shock, but didn't seem much hurt by it. Ralph turned around in surprise, trying to appear disappointed in me, but I could detect a small smile slyly playing on his lips.

I didn't get the response I had expected from Jack; he didn't hit me back, but he didn't apologise either. He just shook his head at me, giving me a particular look. I knew what he was trying to say; to let it go for now and he would explain later. I nodded, but moved to the inside of the triangle, beside Simon.

Ralph furrowed his eyebrows in thought, but quickly shook his head and continued speaking as if he'd never been interrupted.

"Next," he started, "you littluns need to stop going to the toilet wherever you want. A lot of you are going near where the fruit grows and that's dirty."

He stopped when a fit of laughter erupted from the crowd of littluns at the front, and a few of the less mature bigguns.

"I said that's dirty!" he shouted, running his hand through his hair in frustration. He took a deep breath before continuing, "look, if you're taken short..." There was more laughter. "If you're taken short, you pee along the beach by the rocks," he concluded in a raised voice.

He moved onto the next point quickly, leaving no room for debate. "The fire," he began, touching on the subject that we all knew was coming, yet all dreaded. We dreaded it like a child dreads being told off by their mother for something they know they were caught doing, but has been ignored until the dreaded moment. "Is of upmost importance. The fire means rescue, it means getting home and that makes it more important than anything else, even our lives. We don't _have_ lives unless a ship comes- staying on this island forever isn't a life."

He was again interrupted by laughter, but this time it was from the hunters. However, when the littluns had excitedly laughed at what they had found a hilarious dirty joke, the hunters laughed guilty, nervous giggles. Instead of joining the hunters' giggling, I looked down at my shoes and nervously bit my lip as I had always done when I was being chastised by teachers for talking in class.

"We die before we let the fire go out!" Ralph shouted, making a dramatic statement to once again capture everyone's attention. The hunters were silent. "From now on, we'll only have one fire; the one on the mountain. If you want to cook food, you can walk up there. And another thing-"

"Too many things!" someone from the crowd shouted, riling up a crowd and inspiring more cries of the like.

I looked to Simon to see his reaction, but he was staring blankly in front of him, seemingly at nothing in particular. He seemed not even to blink.

"Simon," I said, shaking him gently in an attempt to rouse him. "Si, are you okay?"

He didn't reply, but I stopped shaking him when I heard the conch. I turned around again to see Ralph panting heavily with the conch in his hands.

"Things are breaking up," he stated for the third time that night. "We said we would talk and discuss things to fix them, but none of you are listening." His frustration was obvious to all of us, but no-one knew how to react, so most just shuffled around awkwardly, trying not to look directly at him. "People are getting frightened- I don't know why, but they are."

There were excited whispers, but Ralph swiftly continued. "But that's all nonsense. There's no beastie, or whatever it is you're claiming to have seen- that's littluns' talk. We've got to talk about the fear and settle it." He raised the conch, signalling that he was done speaking and in a matter of seconds, Jack stepped into the triangle and grabbed the conch.

"This meeting is a pile of nonsense. All this littlun talk and Ralph is entertaining it. It's a _pile of nonsense,"_ he stressed, waving the conch around wildly. "Getting frightened sometimes is fine- we all get scared sometimes, but we put up with it." I widened my eyes at his admission of getting frightened. "Ralph says that you cry out at night for your mothers- or for Audrey," he added with a scoff. "Like a bunch of babies. That's the problem. You have to toughen up and learn to deal with the fear just like the rest of us do."

I noticed Ralph staring at Jack open-mouthed with shock, but Jack confidently continued.

"The thing is- fear can't hurt you any more than a dream."

At that, there were more mutterings and frightened whispers, not only from the littluns, but everyone- even a few of the hunters.

"There are no monsters on this island- I know, I've been all over and seen everything. Haven't I?" Jack asked, turning to his hunters for support. They nodded in obedience and once again, I couldn't help pondering on what it would be like if he had been voted chief. "And anyway, even if there was a beast, I would hunt it and kill it. I am a hunter aren't I?" At that, everyone nodded- even Ralph. Everyone knew he was a hunter. "Not that you lot of sissies wouldn't deserve getting eaten by a beastie," he added with a snarl.

Most of the littluns shrieked in shock and shrunk back, trying to increase their distance from Jack. Piggy held his hand out for the conch, but Jack refused to hand it over. Ralph seemed about to step in, but I held my hand out for the conch and Jack complied.

"That's no way to handle things," I announced, addressing Jack. "But he and Ralph are right about the fear- there's no reason for it. We were happy at the beginning with no mention of beasts, so why do you feel the need to bring it up now? As Jack said, he's been all over the island, so if there was a beast he'd know and-"

I looked around with a sigh, realising that only about two people were actually listening to what I was saying.

"Give the conch back to Jack, girls don't need to talk. They don't understand things like this," Maurice sneered and was joined by murmurs of agreement. I flushed and felt the heat rising on my face, unsure of what to do to retain my composure. I stammered for words, but I was too disconcerted to say anything dignified.

"Shut your fucking mouth," Jack growled, standing threateningly over him. He seemed so in the mood for a fight that I was sure one would erupt, but Ralph finally spoke up.

"She's just as much right to speak as any of us and besides, she's much cleverer than you," he quipped with a charming smile, causing me to involuntarily smile back in response. I was grateful, but I still eagerly passed the conch along to Piggy, who had earlier been refused it.

"You littluns aren't being logical- of course there are no beasts. I know there isn't any fear," he paused. "Unless we get frightened by people."

There was an eruption of laughter at that, with nobody seemingly to grasp what Piggy had been getting at. I looked to Simon, who always understood everything, but he was still staring blankly in front of him, nervously rocking back and forth.

"Let's hear from the littlun who started all this beast talk," Piggy suggested. "Then we can settle this once and for all and tell him how silly he is."

A littlun stepped forward from the crowd with a sort of bold courage and confidently took the conch, cradling it in his arms just like Ralph always did.

Ralph took Piggy's place in questioning the littlun. "What's your name?"

"Phil," he replied and without waiting for further questions, he began relating his experience of fear. "I was dreaming last night, dreaming a bad dream. It was dark and I was alone- all by myself. I was fighting with those twisty snake things in the trees." He stopped, looking around, searching for sympathy which he soon found in the eyes of the other littluns.

"Then I woke up, and I was standing outside the shelter by myself in the dark- just like the night terror, but the twisty things weren't there. I was still frightened though- and I called for Ralph and Audrey, but no one heard me. Then I saw something huge and scary hiding in the trees. It was the beastie!" He stopped, once again looking around at the terrified faces of almost everyone.

"That was only a nightmare," Ralph reassured, his tone full of stern finality. "He was walking in his sleep," he concluded, leaving no room for debate. We all nodded in mutual agreement, all but Phil, who shook his head fervently.

"No, only the first part. The second part was real, I know it was. It felt real. There was a beastie moving in the trees, really there was sir," he desperately appealed to Ralph, his eyes pleading.

Ralph shook his head and I held my hand out for the conch. Phil handed it to me and scattered back to a group of his friends. "You must have been asleep, nobody was there. I doubt anybody would be out in the dark. Did any of you go out?" I asked, turning and looking around at the assembly. After what probably seemed like much longer than it truly was, Simon meekly stepped forward. Ralph stared at him in bewilderment and Jack snatched the conch from my hands.

"You! I know you're batty, but what were you doing out in the dark at night?" he asked, his face an expression of mocking wonderment. "I know you weren't sneaking around with a girl," he smirked, earning the laughter of his hunters.

Simon still had the faraway look in his eyes, but nobody else even seemed to notice. He shyly took the conch, almost dropping it at the exchange. "I was just…" he looked at something, then, with frightened, widened eyes, quickly lowered his gaze, causing his coarse hair to fall over his bright eyes. "Just going to a place I know," he finished shrinkingly.

"You're batty," Jack chuckled, shaking his head in mirth.

"That's enough," Ralph interrupted, once again taking the conch. He patiently waited for silence, then turned to Piggy. "Well Piggy?"

"There was another littlun," Piggy informed, pointing towards a small, mouseish boy who was sitting by himself, apart from the other littluns. After Piggy indicated towards him, the other littluns scooted further away from him, causing him to stand out clearly to everyone.

Ralph passed the conch to Piggy, indicating that he was free to interview the littlun.

"Alright," Piggy began. "What's your name?"

The boy was still sitting still, clutching his knees tightly in his hands, with his entire body curled up into a tiny ball, as if hiding from the rest of the assembly. As I looked to everyone's impatient, eager eyes, I could understand why. The boy was silent and only flinched further away, his eyes nervously darting around.

"What's your name?" Ralph asked with sharp annoyance.

The child was again silent. The only one who seemed to look at him with pity was Simon, who was at last looking at something other than blankness.

I was losing my patience and was getting hopelessly bored at the meeting which, as all other meetings, was going nowhere. I made my way over to Jack, who was standing beside Roger in an animated but hushed conversation. They were both silent when I approached.

"What's the littlun's problem?" I asked with a scoff in a feeble attempt to ease the tension. Roger glanced at me cautiously, but was silent. Jack stepped closer to me and spoke in a lowered voice, presumably so Roger wouldn't hear.

"Is your wrist okay?" he questioned concernedly, swiftly turning his gaze to the wrist he had grabbed. I quickly nodded, wanting to move on to a topic of more importance before I would have to once again pay attention to Ralph. The assembly had begun to chant "What's your name?" to the littlun, who was then shaking with fear.

"I didn't mean to hurt your feelings about being chief…" I murmured, attempting to make him explain his actions.

"S'fine," he muttered in indifference, glancing around almost nervously. I narrowed my eyes in confusion, silently pleading for him to elaborate. "I gotta talk to you later. Right after this meeting okay?" He had stopped looking around and was then looking right at me, communicating without words. I nodded and turned back to Ralph after noticing Roger's eyes on us.

"What about the beast?" Jack asked suddenly, addressing the littlun. He didn't have the conch, so was breaking the rules. However, nobody seemed to mind, not even Ralph. Jack grabbed the littlun's shoulders and shook him roughly. "Where does it live?"

The unfortunate littlun was drooping in Jack's tight grip, but still wouldn't speak. When I was speaking to Jack, I could faintly hear the littlun speaking, but I was unaware of what had been said. I later discovered that the littlun was called Percival, and all he had seemed able to do was cry and recite his full name and address.

Percival finally answered, but spoke so softly that nobody was able to hear what he'd said. Ralph quirked an eyebrow inquiringly. "What'd he say?"

Jack leant closer to the littlun and made him repeat his answer. "He says it comes out from the sea."

Everyone began muttering anxiously, until Maurice announced that his father had told him that all of the animals in the sea hadn't been found yet. The statement was followed by a short silence, which was soon interrupted by further arguments.

Simon took the conch and murmured something quietly, but was ignored or unnoticed by all, who were too concerned with making their point of views heard. "Maybe…" he began, "Maybe… Maybe there is a beast," he suggested falteringly.

I couldn't help the feeling of shock which suddenly overcame me. _Surely Simon didn't believe in beasts?_

Apparently Ralph shared my opinion, as he abruptly stood up in stupefaction. "Not you Simon. You believe there's a beast?"

Simon crimsoned in shame and I noticed his hands anxiously shaking in apprehension. "No- not like that… like… I mean-"

There were more cries of impatience, urging Ralph to shut him up and give the conch to someone else, but Ralph silenced them.

"Quiet! Simon's got the conch, so listen to him!" he ordered with his signature tone in meetings of stern authority.

"Perhaps- Maybe… Maybe it's just us."

Piggy stood in shock, similar to how Ralph had done but with much less composure. "Poppycock!"

Simon continued, clearly struggling to find the right words to express his point. "What I mean is that… We could be…"

"Maybe he means it's some sort of ghost," I blurted out. I'd read books about ghosts and presumed that Simon had too. _Perhaps he was talking about the boy with the mulberry birthmark?_

"She doesn't have the conch!" Maurice shouted, sneering over at me.

"Neither do you, and as if _you_ care about the rules, you-"

Piggy took the conch and gave me a reproachful look as he spoke. "I don't believe in ghosts, I think that's nonsense- more littlun talk."

Jack rose angrily. "Who cares what you believe fatty?" he sneered.

"I got the conch!" Piggy retaliated indignantly.

Piggy's plea for reason had no effect on Jack except increasing his anger. Jack jumped towards him and snatched the conch from his grip. Unwilling to surrender, Piggy snatched it right back. Evidently, Jack was displeased at the threat to his power, and began ruthlessly wrestling Piggy for the conch. There were sounds of grunting and scratching as the conch was moved to and fro.

"Stop! You'll break it!" Piggy cried in horror.

"Shut up fatty!"

I hate to admit it, but there was a very large part of me that was enjoying watching Piggy struggling so much- largely due to the fact that he'd just called what I'd said _nonsense._ I didn't speak _nonsense._

They were still wrestling over the conch when Ralph pushed between them and managed to grab the conch from them, getting a punch on the chest in the process. He sat back down on his log breathlessly.

"There's too much talk about ghosts, we're not being reasonable. We should have left this for daylight." He brushed his hair back from his face and opened his mouth to continue, but was interrupted by an anonymous voice.

"Perhaps that's what the beast is- a ghost."

There was an eerie silence until Ralph heatedly spoke again. "There's too much talking out of turn. We can't have a proper assembly if you don't stick to rules." I reddened at that, knowing I was just as guilty as the last voice that had spoken up. The only difference was that I was the only girl, so my voice would be recognised by everyone. "I admit, I was wrong to have the assembly so late," he sighed. "But that's no excuse, you still can't break the rules. Anyway, we'll have a vote- about ghosts. Then we can all go back to the huts, because we're all tired, so the sooner this is over, the sooner we can rest. I don't believe in ghosts," he stated, meeting my eyes before quickly looking away. "But I don't like the thought of them, not in the dark."

Jack scoffed, causing Ralph to flush scarlet.

"Right, that's what this is: a vote. Who thinks there may be ghosts?"

There was a long silence, everyone seeming hesitant to act. Then, gradually, people began raising their hands. It was mostly littluns, but there was also a significant amount of bigguns with raised hands. I raised mine, and noticed Jack doing the same. I wasn't completely sure if I believed in ghosts, but there were moments when I swore that I did, and I didn't see why they couldn't be real. It was much more interesting if they were. Ralph squinted to make out the hands and grimaced, I noticed his frown was particularly deep when he noticed me and Jack's hands.

"I see."

"I didn't vote for any ghosts!" Piggy shrieked in his usual shrill voice, after taking the conch from Ralph.

"You shut up!" Jack growled over at him.

There was another struggle over the conch, worrying even Ralph at the possibility of the sacred item being shattered. He jumped to his feet, but I interfered before he could get involved again.

"Stop it!" I shouted, pulling at Jack's arm. _If he hurts me this time, I'm not talking to him after. That will be it. If he stops, then I'll do what he wants in turn._

"He has the conch Jack, just let him speak. Then we can go back to the shelters," I beseeched. Jack's grip loosened and his face relaxed.

"Jack! Jack! He has the conch!" Ralph clamoured, clearly unaware that Jack was already calming. At Ralph's interference, Jack's face once again contorted with the same fury and his grip completely loosened, letting go of the conch, causing Piggy to fall backwards and land clumsily on the grass beneath him.

Jack stepped in front of Ralph, standing over him in a way to exaggerate that he was slightly taller. "You shut up too! You stand around bossing us around, telling us what to do! You can't do anything but talk!" he quickly looked to Roger, then back to Ralph with the same intense loathing.

"I'm chief. I was chosen," Ralph replied coolly.

"Only because you're _pretty,"_ Jack countered maliciously, clearly repeating words he'd said before, presumably to Roger. "Why should choosing make a difference anyway? It's not fair! I'm the better chief- we ought to have had a competition and I could have proved that!"

"Piggy's got the conch," Ralph replied simply, not reacting to any of the treason Jack had spat.

"The conch! Who cares about the fucking conch?" Jack protested. "I'll speak when I want, not when _you_ tell me too!"

"You're breaking the rules!" Ralph exclaimed, rapidly losing his composure.

"Who cares? Damn the rules."

"The rules are all we've got."

They were both shouting against each other. Jack was riling up a crowd, convincing them that they would be better off without rules. "We're strong!" he argued. "Who cares if there's a beast or if there isn't? If there is, then me and my hunters will kill it and make a feast of it! We can survive better without Ralph's stupid rules!" He charged away from the triangle with everyone following him but Ralph, Piggy and Simon.

I ran along after Jack's crowd, hoping to get Jack alone to talk to him, but it seemed to completely slip from his mind and he was clearly occupied, so I walked back towards Ralph. I was walking behind them, coming from behind the trees so none of them noticed me approaching.

"You can't give up being chief, what would happen to all of us?" Piggy asked nervously, fiddling with his fingers. "What happened to not giving up without a fight?"

"Look, they all run after him. All of them."

"Everything would fall apart if you stopped being chief."

"C'mon Ralph, keep up being chief."

"What's the point if nobody else wants me to be? They only listen to Jack, they don't want to discuss things- all they want is to run around and act like savages."

"Not everyone," I opposed, stepping forwards and sitting opposite Ralph, beside Simon.

"Where'd you come from?" Piggy asked suspiciously. He was visibly annoyed at my presence, no doubt because I'd monetarily run off from the assembly. I decided not to dignify that with a response, and instead continued an appeal to Ralph.

"They're right- you can't stop being chief. The whole group would become a mess without you," I assured with a pensive smile. "I know we run off at times, but that's not all we want to do. Everyone just needs to understand that what you're doing is important- they will eventually."

"But when?" Ralph sighed disheartenedly.

"I didn't mean ghosts," Simon murmured.

"What?" Piggy asked shrilly, looking accusingly over at the boy.

"About the beast being us- I wasn't talking about ghosts."

"What were you talking about then?" Ralph and I inquired simultaneously.

Piggy, clearly disinterested, interrupted. "He hates you, you know- Jack."

"He hates me?" Ralph asked confusedly, his eyes widened in disbelief. "Why?"

"I don't know, I think he's jealous," Piggy stated, pushing up his glasses.

Simon seemed crestfallen at the interruption and had shrunken further into himself, once again staring forwards blankly. My dislike towards Piggy only increased due to that.

"Jack Merridew, jealous of me?" Ralph scoffed. "He has everything- look at them," he gestured towards the still euphoric crowd.

"Not everything- You're chief," I countered with a small smirk.

"Not just that…" Piggy muttered, looking up to Ralph.

"What then?" Ralph asked incredulously.

"Well…" Piggy stammered awkwardly, until, with a sigh, he leant closer to Ralph and whispered something to him. Ralph shook his head with narrowed eyes, but Piggy persisted and continued to whisper until Ralph shrugged, admitting neither belief nor disbelief.

I looked to Simon, urging him to question them, but he was unresponsive, so I spoke up on my own.

"What is it?"

They both flushed. "Doesn't matter," Ralph murmured embarrassedly.

"So Jack's chief now?" Simon asked abruptly, still not looking at any of us.

"No!" Ralph quickly protested, his face contorting in anger. "No…" he repeated, regaining his composure.

We all looked to him questioningly.

"I won't give up being chief, and I'm going to settle things with Jack tomorrow- once and for all."


	12. Chapter 12

I fell to the ground with a clumsy thud and disgruntledly rubbed at my head. I'd fallen asleep on a makeshift hammock that Ralph had made for me a few days ago. I looked up and the first thing I saw was Jack's smug face, smirking as he extended a hand.

I pushed it away and got up by myself. "You didn't have to push me," I grumbled indignantly.

He chuckled. "Don't cry about it. Get up; I'm having my own meeting." And then he left.

Dazed and befuddled, I trod along to my shelter and grabbed my suitcase, searching for a place to quickly change before Jack's 'meeting'. I wandered slightly into the jungle and distractedly walked straight into Simon, causing me to drop my suitcase in shock.

"Oh! Sorry," I said somewhat breathily, smiling widely.

He stared back at me in bewilderment (bewilderment at what, I don't know- but he definitely looked bewildered). He opened his mouth as if about to speak, but quickly closed it again with a shake of his head. After staring at me for a short while longer, he scurried off.

"Maybe he _is_ batty," I muttered under my breath as I watched him scamper away.

I walked deeper into the jungle until I found my usual place to change. I pushed my suitcase through a gap in the large mass of trees, then crawled through myself.

I looked around at the familiar area; one of the only places on the island where I felt comfortable. It was a small clearing, completely surrounded by trees and bushes, so nobody could see inside unless they crawled through as I had, but from certain spots I could look outside. It'd been Ralph who'd found it and showed it to me with the intention of this being a place where I could change, but we also began to use it as a place to sneak off from the rest of the group and be alone- just to talk, but it was nice.

Anyway, I got changed into one of my pink dresses and swiftly brushed through my tangled waves. I neglected to put on shoes, as I only had three pairs and one of those were heels, whilst the others were getting scruffy and tattered and altogether just weren't very practical for running around on the island. I carefully applied lipstick and put on my sunglasses- which had surprisingly remained intact.

I again pushed my suitcase through the small gap and crawled after it before making my way back to the beach. When I reached my shelter, I promptly tossed my suitcase inside before running off to find Jack.

The previous night, Ralph had said he was going to finish things with Jack today- once and for all. I didn't know exactly what that had meant, but I had a feeling it had something to do with Jack's 'meeting'.

I heard a stirring from the bushes and anxiously turned my head, but before I had time to even think, someone grabbed my arm, covering my mouth with one of their hands. They pulled me into the bushes and pushed me to my knees.

"Gotta be quiet, it's a secret meeting. Invite only," Jack whispered eagerly. Roger glared.

"There's only four people," I noted with narrowed eyes, seeing it was only Jack, Roger, Maurice and I.

Roger frowned. "Not good enough for you, Princess?" he spat resentfully, his voice raised.

"Keep it down, idiot!" Jack shouted, his voice much louder than Roger's had been.

I shook my head and looked to Maurice, who was uncharacteristically quiet- then quickly turned away when he caught me looking.

"So what's this about?" I asked, biting my lip as I looked to Jack and Roger.

Jack grinned, and Roger quickly mirrored his smile. "This," Jack began. "Is about our tribe."

I quirked an eyebrow. _"Our trib_ e?" Jack nodded enthusiastically, but was silent. "What do you mean, _our tribe_?"

"He means a new and improved tribe- sans Ralph," Maurice informed snidely.

All I could do was stare, my mouth open in complete shock. Maurice and Roger laughed, but Jack seemed disgruntled.

"I told you she wouldn't like it," reminded Roger smugly, smirking from me to Jack. "Not without _Ralph."_

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked in annoyance.

"It don' matter what she thinks," Maurice interjected. "If she wants to survive an' have fun, she'll join us- if not, her loss. It don' matter either way, Ralph can have 'er if he wants. Plenty will join us."

"It does matter," Jack countered gravelly, then turned to me. "We're not leaving you," he assured.

I didn't know what to say. Somehow it'd been decided that I was going to either be with Jack or Ralph and that there was no other option. Jack wasn't asking what I wanted- he was telling me that he was gracious enough to let me join his tribe.

"And how do you plan to form your own tribe?" I questioned.

"That's what the meeting's about," Roger answered impatiently, his ominous grey eyes burning with scorn, just about perceptible through his lank fringe.

"So you're in?" Jack implored, his blue eyes gleaming with anticipation.

"I didn't say that," I backtracked quickly, not liking where it was going. I slowly crept backwards, but Jack immediately halted me.

"Wait- Don't let Ralph know, okay?"

I shook my head vigorously and quickly stood up. Without looking at any of them again, I ran off from the 'meeting place' and went over to the real meeting place, the triangular one with the logs.

"We saw-"

"The beast!"

"Swear we did!"

"Honest!"

"Big, it was-"

"Huge!"

I had unwittingly walked right into yet another meeting.

"Audrey!" Sam began.

"We saw-" continued Eric.

"The beast!" finished Sam.

I laughed disbelievingly. "And what did the beast look like?"

Before the twins could answer, a littlun eagerly pointed out that I was speaking without the conch- the twins held it between them as they always spoke together. I wasn't at all interested in discussing the make-believe beast, so I sat down on the log beside Ralph's.

"Well it seems like none of you are going to stop banging on about the beast until we prove it's not real," stated Ralph. "But you still let the fire go out," he chastised the twins, clearly annoyed, but not really angry.

"Sorry sir," Eric mumbled.

"But the beast was huge!" Sam defended.

"Would have swallowed us whole," Eric agreed.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Jack, Roger and Maurice trying to slip in unnoticed.

"Nice of you to join us," Ralph uttered sarcastically without giving so much as a glance to the newcomers.

The three stuck together and were filled in on the meeting's events by Walter; a hatchet-faced biggun with beady, piggish eyes.

More time passed and there were more arguments about the beast's existence until Ralph finally declared that we would hunt it.

"Hunt it?" Piggy exclaimed, taking the conch. "Are you sure that's a good idea? Couldn't we just stay here?"

"Scared, fatty?" Jack sniggered. "I'll hunt it- I'll go by myself if no-one else will."

"I will," I declared abruptly, surprising even myself. "I'm not scared of beasts."

"So me, Jack and Audrey. Anyone else?" Ralph asked, looking around at all of the bigguns.

Roger and Maurice raised their hands and stepped forward, exchanging a look with Jack.

"Anyone else?"

There were no more volunteers.

"Alright, we'll make a plan and then we can go," Ralph concluded authoritively.

"A plan? We hunt it with our spears, then stab it and kill it. Why would we need a better plan than that?" Jack protested.

"We don't know what this beast is like- if it even exists. How are we to know if five of us is even enough?" Ralph reasoned.

"If you're scared then just stay here," Jack retorted coolly. "We don't need you."

Ralph tensed and bit his fingernails in an agonizing silence before finally responding, his voice low and uneven. "Course I'm frightened- who wouldn't be?"

Jack smiled cockily. "Me."

"Well Ralph's afraid and doing it anyway," I interjected. "That's much braver-in my opinion, at least."

Jack glowered, but shut up.

Ralph grinned like a Cheshire Cat. "We'll leave in an hour."

* * *

Ralph and I ambled through the trees whilst Jack, Maurice and Roger paraded at the front, at least 10 metres ahead.

"Thanks," Ralph murmured after a while.

I turned to him questioningly. "For what?"

"You know… Getting Jack to shut up," he uttered with that chivalrous smile that he _always_ did.

"It's fine- he needed shutting up," I smirked. He was looking at me with wide eyes, looking at me like I'd done much more than say one little thing to Jack. I didn't like it, and picked up my pace so I was walking in the middle; behind Jack and in front of Ralph. He'd seemed like he was about to start talking about something else; he had that look in his eye.

I waddled along, holding my spear loosely and every so often twirling and swirling it around in boredom. I still wasn't convinced about the beast's existence; I was in an odd state where I neither believed nor disbelieved in it, so I was both afraid and bored- although mostly bored. Every so often I would hear a slight crackle or light patter and I would fearfully jerk my head all around in search of the beast, my heart thumping in panic.

It was ridiculous- in my head I knew that there was of course no beast, but there was a part of me just as stupid as the rest of them that couldn't help fearing the unknown.

I had unconsciously slowed my pace and was again walking beside Ralph, who seemed to think it was intentional.

"I was thinking," he started.

"A dangerous pastime," I teased, attempting to evade a serious conversation.

He chuckled then continued abruptly, probably speaking quickly before he could change his mind. "We'd be good together- don't you think?" He stopped walking, presumably expecting me to do the same. I kept walking.

"No."

I didn't look at him, so I don't know what his reaction was except that he replied quickly without hesitation. "Why not?"

That time I did stop walking and turned to face him. He didn't look fazed, only confused. His eyes were piercing into me as if he could tell exactly what I was thinking, but that wasn't true- or else he wouldn't have asked in the first place. I didn't want something serious, or to think about how I was feeling or what I was doing. I wanted to glide by without a thought in the world except for the very present. I didn't want responsibility for anybody else- including their feelings.

"Because I'll break your heart," I answered nonchalantly.

He immediately opened his mouth to respond, but was halted by Maurice. "Hurry up! Look how far behind you are!"

I jogged ahead and walked beside Jack where everything was simple, while Ralph walked between Roger and Maurice, awkwardly attempting conversation with two of the people who wanted to betray him.

All Jack talked about was how the beast wasn't real- which he was so exceeding clever to realise, and about how of course it wasn't real, but if by some miracle it so happened to be real, he would of course be the one to kill it. It was dull, and I didn't listen to most of it, but Jack's constant bragging had a somewhat comforting familiarity. I didn't have to think- just walk. So I walked beside him in a happy daze until we found a stone bridge.

There was a pause accompanied by awkwardly shuffling, all of the boys clearly afraid to be the first one to cross until Ralph finally volunteered. "I'm chief. I'll go." He began to walk forward torturously slowly, his hesitation painstakingly evident.

"For goodness' sake, I'll go," I snickered, walking speedily ahead of Ralph. Jack and Ralph were remarkably more eager to go when I was ahead, and both scurried behind, neither wanting to be last.

Jack called it a castle, and that's what it seemed like. The narrow walk way led to a wide area of rock dotted with caves and there was a red cliff at the end of it. Most of it was made from pink rock and it all looked beautiful. There were a few lighter whitish-blue rocks which hung from the tops of overhead rocks and resembled icicles, reminding me of Christmas time back home.

"This would be some fort," Jack said in awe, he and Roger running ahead of the rest of us to look around.

"Whoever ruled here would be a king," I remarked, looking around at the steep slopes and sharp rocks that encircled the area. "Never mind all this bother about chiefs."

Both Ralph and Jack's ears pricked up at that, but only Jack commented. He crept up behind me- albeit not very well, as I could hear every one of his footsteps- and whispered into my ear. "Join my new tribe and you'll be my queen." When I turned around, he had already left.

"I don't like it here," Ralph commented, crinkling his nose as he slowly paced around. "Too cold."

"It's the same temperature as everywhere else on this island- boiling," Jack snapped impatiently.

"I didn't mean that kind of cold."

Jack wrinkled his face in thought, probably unaware that any other interpretation of cold even existed. "I like it- look at those boulders!" he exclaimed enthusiastically, pointing to the boulders on the cliff. "This would be great to defend! We would have guards watching over the bridge; we could make a gate entrance! Anyway, the guards could drop boulders on anybody who tried to sneak in over the bridge- And there's no other entrance. Prisoners couldn't escape! We'd have a gate at the end of the bridge with guards always by it, and there's no other exits!"

Ralph's eyes widened. "We're not moving camp to _here."_

"Well what if everyone else wants to? You can't just boss everybody around- your rules are stupid anyways," Jack argued.

"They _won't_ want to," Ralph contended. "Look at it- it's all just cold, hard rocks. It's cut off from the whole rest of the island. The beach has sand and you can see the sea, so we can see any ships that might come." He paused, looking towards the mountain, before continuing in a tired groan, more to himself than anyone else. "There's no signal…"

"The signal's all you care about," Jack mocked.

"The signal's all we've got."

"No it's not! And no ships are going to come!" Jack roared, his face red with rage. "And why does it matter? We can be happier here- away from _rules."_ Maurice shot Jack a sharp glare, as if warning him not to bother Ralph before they had a certain plan to overthrow him, but Jack either didn't notice or didn't care.

"You and your rules." Jack spoke huskily, shaking his head in frustration. "You just want to be in control of _everything_ and order everyone around!"

"That's not true and you know it," Ralph seethed. "If _you_ were in charge it would be chaos and everyone knows it."

"That's what people want! There're no adults- so we can have fun! That's what everyone but you and your fat friend wants. We don't need rules or that _stupid_ conch!"

Surprisingly, it was Roger who made Jack calm down. He whispered something to Jack and I don't know what he said, but it worked. They stopped arguing, and Jack explored the general area with Roger while Ralph, who was avoiding me but continually casting glances my way, inched along the red cliff. That left me with Maurice.

I'd been planning to go off by myself for a few minutes like Ralph had, but Maurice seemed to get the notion into his head to follow me around. He didn't say anything, but he was always there, right behind me. It was strangely unnerving.

"Would you stop following me?" I asked eventually, my voice thick with impatience.

"Did you tell Ralph 'bout the new tribe?" he asked, ignoring my question. I shook my head, so he continued. "So you're joining?"

"What's it to you?" I asked, having still not made up my mind.

"Jus' wonderin'" he replied stupidly. There was an awkward pause. "Be nice teh have a girl in the tribe," he continued eventually, smiling the ugliest smile I thought I'd ever seen.

I narrowed my eyes. "I'm just the same as all of you- just maybe a little less idiotic."

"You're not the same!" he cackled.

"Wouldn't make a difference to you where I would be anyway- I wouldn't talk to you either way."

I turned away from him, picking up my pace in an attempt to lose him. I could hear heavy footsteps behind me, but I didn't turn around; I just walked faster until I walked right into a cave.

I could hear rocks falling into water, causing light splashes. The sound wasn't scary in itself, it was more the thought of the whole cave collapsing. I couldn't see the rocks or how big they were, and had no real idea of the stableness of the cave. Also, I couldn't deny the possibility of a beast living there; I didn't know how big it was, so the beast could have been hiding deeper into the cave. Nevertheless, I cautiously walked further in, probably even slower than Ralph had walked earlier. I could constantly hear rocks tumbling and splashing accompanied by various other noises with unknown origins. The noises were from all over; in front, behind, left, right, above, below. That's why I forgot about the footsteps when I was inside the cave.

I thought I was alert, completely prepared for a surprise attack from the beast. Though I was possibly too alert, as when I felt my shoulder lightly being tapped, I let out a piercing scream and flung my arms at Jack, hitting him in the face.

"Jesus!" he exclaimed, before embarrassedly clearing his throat.

My ring had left a cut along his right cheek; it looked deeper than the one I'd given Simon a while ago. "Sorry," I apologised instinctively.

He grinned. "No problem."

Without realising it, I had backed away from him and was then standing with my back to the wall of the cave. He moved closer to me, smirking roguishly.

"You don't care about anything, do you?" I asked softly, thinking of my earlier conversation with Ralph- if you could even call it a conversation.

He grinned again. "Nope." He moved closer.

"Perfect."

It was me who leaned in first that time; we inched our faces together until they were only centimetres apart, but it was me who raised my chin and brought my lips up to meet his. He moved his arms over my shoulders, trapping me against the wall. I moved my arms around his neck and closed my eyes, trying to lose myself and forget everything. Even scattered thoughts would have been acceptable- but all I could think of was Ralph. I could see him perfectly through my closed eyes, I could feel his kiss rather than Jack's- I could even hear him.

 _"We'd be good together- don't you think?"_

I could hear him again, but it was different. He was calling me- and Jack.

I pulled away.

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

I wormed out from his grasp and kept my gaze fixed on the ground. "Ralph's calling us." I edged towards the cave's exit, but he grabbed my arm, turning me around to face him.

"You're not staying with him, are you?"

"I thought you didn't care about anything," I reminded, dragging him out of the cave.

He looked at me, but didn't reply as we approached Ralph and the others.

"What were you doing?" Ralph asked hotly, watching us accusingly.

"In a cave," Maurice smiled suggestively. "We all know what they were doin'."

Maurice was winking at me while Ralph and Roger were glaring at me. I honestly didn't know how to respond. Jack put his arm around me, pulling me closer towards him. That, of course, caused everyone to send even more questioning glances- and glares, in Ralph and Roger's case.

"None of your business," Jack smirked. "Now what did you interrupt for? Better be really fucking good, Blondie."

Ralph was flustered for a moment, and stuttered a few incomprehensible answers, his voice switching from low to high. He cleared his throat and moved his hair from his face. "The beast isn't here, so we're going to the mountain now. We can look for it there and relight the signal."

I flinched, waiting for Jack to argue and for another argument to erupt, possibly including Roger and Maurice. _What would Ralph do if they all ganged up on him? He wouldn't stand a chance._

However, Jack just smiled and answered, "Okay." Even Roger seemed surprised at that. He looked at me curiously, but all I could do was look back, hesitant to even shrug while Jack's arm was still around me.

Ralph narrowed his eyes suspiciously and looked to Jack as if waiting for him to announce that it wasn't okay at all and that he was actually about to throw him off the cliff. I have to admit, it sounded more likely than Jack saying "okay."

"Okay," Ralph replied awkwardly, still looking at us doubtfully. "Okay, we'll go. Do you want to lead the way?"

"Okay, thanks," he answered simply, leading me to the front. I looked back to Ralph, but when I saw he was looking too, I quickly turned around and leaned into Jack.

We walked for a long while; I could see the sky changing colour as we went along. It went from a pale blue, to a vibrant blue, to sea blue, then changed to a purple colour. It was a purple-blue when Roger finally spoke up about how monotonous the trek over to the mountain really was.

Nobody replied to his complaining; Ralph was plodding behind us, trying to pretend he didn't notice anything we did, Jack walked ahead as if Roger'd never opened his mouth, probably because he had no sharp reply in mind and Maurice most likely felt that he didn't possess the authority.

"Well what do you suggest?" I inquired, stepping away from Jack to walk beside Roger, who was walking at the other side of Jack anyway. I stepped to Roger's Jack-free side to avoid making Roger even more annoyed than he usually was.

He stared at me, checking if I was teasing him or being serious. He must have been satisfied by what he found as he answered in a relatively happy tone. "Hunting."

Ralph was miraculously brought back to attention by that. "Wouldn't that slow us down? We need to get there as fast as possible."

Jack was also brought to attention, and his excitement at the prospect of a hunt quickly faded with Ralph's hesitation. He rolled his eyes, but didn't make any sarcastic remarks. Maurice and Roger also looked to Ralph with the kind of impatience one might feel towards a four year old who won't eat his dinner. Nobody bothered to argue, as they knew it would be fruitless. Ralph was chief, at least for the time being.

Ralph must have picked up on the atmosphere he'd created as he quickly backtracked. "I only meant that we can hunt on the way- no side-tracking and it shouldn't slow us down too much." He offered a shy smile and again retreated into his pensive mood.

Jack and Maurice grinned from ear to ear, and ran forwards, flashing their spears in exhilaration. Roger, the one who had suggested hunting in the first place, wistfully followed behind them. I remembered enjoying hunting before, but I was in no mood for it then, so that left me with Ralph. I was still walking slightly ahead of him, but the other three were out of sight, so I didn't even know where I was going. Ralph's pace seemed to slow in an obvious attempt to avoid me, so I just trailed around aimlessly.

Ralph must have known that would happen- they would run ahead and get so caught up in hunting that the mountain would be forgotten. I looked behind me, searching for Ralph, at least just to know that he was there; but he wasn't. I ran forwards, hoping to find Jack, but he must have went further than I thought, as I couldn't even hear the sound of him chasing a pig.

I looked up to the sky, and noticed its change from a light, blueish purple to a dark, plum colour. I didn't know how long I'd been walking around by myself, but the sky was dark and it had begun to get cold. I thought walking further would just get me even more lost, so I sat right on the ground and lay down in the long grass. I just lay there for a while, looking up at the sky until I drifted off.


	13. Chapter 13

I was sitting underneath a tree with Ralph. He was talking, but I don't know what about. I was too absorbed in looking at his features, from his curled golden hair that seemed to form a halo around his head, to his earnest emerald eyes. It must have provided a contrast next to my dark features.

"You said you would break my heart," I eventually heard him recall. He was looking at me ardently as if waiting for an answer or explanation, but when I was about to reply he spoke again. "But maybe I'll break yours."

I stared in stunned silence, unsure of how to respond. _Why would I want my heart broken? What was he trying to accomplish?_

"Nobody breaks my heart," I eventually countered.

"Maybe that's what you're afraid of," he pondered, his eye contact unwavering. That wasn't like him. Usually he would shyly look down, or awkwardly face upwards, looking anywhere but at me. "And that's why you kissed Jack."

I opened my eyes and was once again looking at the clouds. The sky was darker, but not significantly so, indicating that not much time had passed. I was getting better at estimating the time, or at least liked to think so. I sat up, wrapping my arms around myself and shivering.

I looked around, but there was still no-one in sight, and admittedly, I was scared. I hadn't been all over the island as Jack had, and I had no idea where I was. I was alone while there was possibly a beast lurking around every corner. Earlier, I concluded that it would be better to stay in one place so someone could find me, but what if no-one did? They were off hunting and had bigger priorities. No one really cared about me enough to come find me. That meant I'd have to find them myself.

I stood up, still cautiously looking around, simultaneously deciding which way to go and watching out for the beast. I realised that I was much less brave when I was alone. When I was with the others, I'd never seriously considered the beast's existence and never hesitated to explore the island. I knew that no matter what was on the island, I was in a group. Strength in numbers and all that. However, when I was by myself, there was no-one to show off for and no-one to help if there _was_ a beast. I eventually gathered enough courage to venture off by myself.

The grass was so tall that it reached my knees and somewhat slowed me down. I hesitantly walked forwards, always carefully listening for any traces of the boys. I was too nervous to shout, in case that would attract the beast.

I don't know how long I was walking for, but my legs were aching as I pushed onwards. The further I walked, the less alert I became, which is my only real excuse for walking straight into Maurice. I seemed to walk into people a lot.

"Watch it," he grumbled, shoving me slightly. He didn't look as frightening as he usually did, just frustrated. Or maybe that was only because of how relieved I was to have found someone- even if that someone was Maurice.

Despite how unhappy to see me he looked, I beamed at him.

"What're you smiling at?" he seethed, sounding so irate that my smile instantly wavered and turned into more of a frown. He noticed that and gave a sick grin. "Nobody knows where you are," he smirked.

"I gathered," I replied curtly.

"So I can do what I want," he snarled, pushing me against a tree and trying to grope me. I jumped in alarm and tried to push him off.

"Get off!" I shrieked, widening my eyes in alarm. "You're vile."

His face contorted horribly as if somebody'd just punched him. He wasn't talking and he didn't look like he wanted to hurt me. That was even more alarming than when he looked like he wanted me dead.

Until he grabbed me by the collar of my dress, pulling me up. He held me so high that my legs were dangling helplessly in the air. He was still holding me by my collar, leaving me gasping for air. He definitely wanted to hurt me- I take back my previous statement. It was petrifying. I could hear my dress tearing around the neck.

"You _shut up,"_ he bellowed lividly. He was flushing with either embarrassment or fury- or both.

I tried to speak, but I could barely even breathe. I was choking for words, but was only able to emit unintelligible frantic gasps.

All I'd said was that he was vile; I spoke like that to everybody. He had a worse temper than Jack- maybe even Roger. I kicked my legs around feverishly.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I heard a shocked voice demand, but my thoughts were too fleeting to distinguish it and I wasn't able to turn to see who it was.

I was dropped to the ground and all I could do was cling to the ground and gasp for breath. I lay down, feeling completely drained; my shock overcoming my curiosity for the first time in my life.

There was talking, then arguing, but I was too tired to hear what was being said. Someone ran off, and then someone approached me. He put his arm around my back and held my hair when I threw up over the ground in front of me. I leant my head back and we sat in silence. I'd figured out by then that it was Ralph. Nobody else would've been able to get Maurice away and then just sat in silence without bombarding me with questions.

After a while, I did turn around, finally prepared to talk to Ralph. "I'm-" I stopped when I saw that it wasn't Ralph- It was Jack.

"Yeah?" he smiled. When I didn't reply, he asked me if I was okay. I nodded dumbly. He smiled again and helped me to my feet.

We didn't speak for a while, he just led me back to the others in silence, but he kept his arm around me. Though it wasn't long before he started questioning me, breaking the celestial silence.

"What happened with him?" he pried, his voice unusually soft.

I bit my lip, taking in his features as I tried to comprehend what _had_ happened. "I don't want to talk about it," I mumbled, looking away.

He stepped in front of me, blocking my path. I pushed him aside. He sat on the ground and pulled my leg, sending me tumbling into his lap. "Tell me," he said, almost growling. "I'll kill him if he did anything- just say the word." He gave a playful wink; I shook my head with a forced laugh.

"He pushed me up against a tree and- you know. I called him vile and he went sort of mad," I dumbly explained, looking at him with wide eyes and trembling lips.

His lips narrowed, appearing thinner and consumed with ill-contained rage. He looked more belligerent than I'd ever seen him. "I'll kill him," he vowed.

I shook my head vehemently. "I can handle him."

"Didn't look like it."

"Let's just get back," I frowned.

We were only a few minutes from everyone else and soon reached them. Roger and Maurice were sitting together speaking in lowered voices and often shooting Ralph quick glances. Ralph was sitting by himself and seemed not to notice anything until he saw Jack and me and jumped to his feet.

I looked to him, trying to convey everything that I wasn't able to say aloud. I don't think it worked, as all he did was ask where I had been. I just continued to look at him, desperately trying to make him understand. He looked back, as if confirming that he understood and I could talk to him later, but Jack shouldered past him, bringing me with him.

He found a rock for me to sit on, then sat on the ground beside me. Ralph was still standing, and everyone was looking to him expectantly. From the lack of meat, I asserted that the hunt had been unsuccessful.

"If you're done chasing after pigs, we'll go to the mountain now. We'll go properly with no detours and we'll settle once and for all if there's a beast. It's late, so the faster we get there, the faster we get back," Ralph announced, walking ahead towards the mountain.

Without exchanging any looks, everybody got up and followed behind him. _Maybe things would be alright after all. Maybe all the talk about Jack overthrowing Ralph really was just talk._

Ralph was leading at the front, Maurice was behind him, then Roger, then me, then Jack. We were walking single file like a group of schoolchildren, which I suppose we were.

There wasn't much conversation; not even from Maurice, who usually never shut up. I usually found their conversations ridiculous and irritating, but time seemed to pass even more slowly without them.

"We're going to be walking till morning at this rate," Jack whispered from close behind me.

I giggled despite myself. "I thought you were a tireless hunter."

"This isn't hunting- this is walking in a line behind Chief Ralph," he scoffed.

"Well if there is a beast, then you can hunt that- unless you're scared," I teased, my belief in the beast again fading.

"I'm not scared of anything," he retorted automatically, clenching his fists until they were white with pressure. His eyes were icy-cold and I knew I'd struck a nerve.

My eyes narrowed in confusion, but he quickly unclenched his fists and moved beside me. He still looked distant; as if he was confused, but he didn't know what he was confused about.

"Jack?" He was staring forwards and didn't respond. "I'm sorry." I didn't know what I was sorry for, but I apologised nonetheless. He mumbled an incoherent response. I held his hand, and he gripped mine tightly, as if frightened I would vanish if he loosened his hold.

We kept walking like that, a little further back from the others. Ralph would seldom glance back, but when he did, it was always the same. His expression would soften when he saw me, and then harden again when he saw Jack. He would quickly look away if he caught my eye, which he always did. Maybe I was trying to catch his eye.

" _You said you would break my heart."_

I rarely remembered dreams, and whenever I did, I would always try to get back to sleep to live in the dream for a little while longer. That hadn't felt like a dream- it felt real. Every time Ralph looked at me it was as if he knew exactly what I was thinking, and what he'd said. Like he knew he had some sort of power.

" _But maybe I'll break yours."_

* * *

"It's getting late," Maurice whined, fearfully glancing around at the looming trees and dark shadows.

"It was getting late ages ago- now it's just late," Roger snapped. I couldn't help the small smile I emitted at Maurice's sulky pout.

Everyone stopped walking, so Ralph suggested that we go back to camp and then go to the mountain tomorrow.

"Scared?" Jack mocked, evidently back to his usual self.

"No, I just don't see the point in going now. We're all tired and it's so dark that we wouldn't even be able to see a beast," Ralph explained calmly.

"I can see you just fine- pretty sure I would see a beast just as well," Jack countered with a smirk. I let go of his hand and he looked at me questioningly, but was too distracted to dwell on it.

Ralph frowned, seemingly unable to think of a response that Jack wouldn't mock. Jack smirked again and seemed about to give another quip, but Ralph spoke up first.

"Why do you hate me?"

That silenced everyone. We all knew that Ralph and Jack hated each other, but to openly say it was another thing. Piggy told Ralph that Jack hated him, but he'd whispered why so that Simon and I couldn't hear. _What did he say? What made Ralph speak up?_

Roger and Maurice looked at each other cautiously, as if planning what they would do if Jack declared war, if Ralph had sparked the split of the group.

What was he thinking? Didn't he know that he was alone with Jack and his supporters? Discounting me, as I still didn't know what to do. _Really bloody useful_. I was even debating starting my own no-drama tribe, but no-one would join a tribe led by a girl- that was just it. Perhaps Piggy would. _Me and Pig-boy vs the world._

"I could ask you the same," Jack murmured awkwardly, clearly abashed and unable to think of a witty retort. He was putting his arm around me again. It felt suffocating.

"You could," Ralph acknowledged calmly. Nobody seemed likely to respond, so after a pause, he continued. "We'll go to the top of the mountain. Anyone who's afraid can stay." With that, he began the trek to the top of the mountain, not looking back to see who, if anyone, was following.

Jack, of course, sprinted after him, unwilling to be left behind. Roger unhesitatingly followed Jack, while Maurice hesitated, looking at the height of the mountain, then back in the direction of the beach. I sat on a rock, unwilling to listen to the follow-up of Ralph and Jack's argument, if you could call it that. When Maurice saw me sitting, he sat down too, probably confident that if called a coward, he could simply say that he was protecting the defenceless girl. I didn't want to sit with Maurice, but I also didn't want to get mauled by the beast. Nevertheless, I decided that getting mauled by the beast would be more favourable than getting mauled by _Maurice._

I quickly got up and began following behind Roger, but Maurice's voice made me turn around.

"So… You an' Jack, huh?"

"Huh?"

"Huh?"

"What are you talking about?" I snapped, forgetting about the mountain and sitting back on the rock.

"You an' Jack," he replied, shrugging nonchalantly.

"Oh," I murmured, only half paying attention.

"So it's true?"

"Hm."

"So tha's why 'e went batty," he concluded with a self-satisfied smirk.

"What do you mean went batty?" I asked, forgetting my pledge of indifference.

He gave an ugly chuckle and changed the subject. "So if you wasn't Jack's who would ya be with?"

"Not you anyway," I scowled.

"I didn' say tha," he protested, flushing wildly.

I frowned. It was going to be a l _ong_ wait.

Maurice looked like he wanted to say something else, but he was silent. I eventually decided that being annoyed was better than being bored, so I decided to liven things up.

"I think that if I wasn't with Jack," I began with a smirk, "I would want to be with Walter."

" _Walter?_ " he chortled. "No you don't!" He was laughing so much that he spat a little. I edged further away.

"Why not?" I asked nonchalantly.

He narrowed his hooded-eyes and spat out another harsh laugh. "Yer funny."

"Cheers."

"Jack says 'e thinks you an' Ralph-"

He was interrupted by a clumsy figure crashing into him and knocking him to the ground.

I let out a childish giggle which quickly changed into a surprised yelp as I felt someone grabbing at my hand.

"Run!" It was Ralph. He pulled me to my feet. "We saw the beast- we need to go. Now!" He grabbed my wrist and pulled me along- the others were running behind him. Ralph pulled me through the jungle and back to the beach. We got back much quicker than we'd got there.

"Ralph," I sighed when we were sitting down outside a shelter. "I need to tell you-"

He shook his head. "Don't worry, just get some sleep. We'll decide how to deal with the beast tomorrow."

"Ralph…"

"Yeah?" he smiled. He didn't seem annoyed anymore, but I didn't feel as relieved as I thought I would have. I wanted to tell him, but he didn't seem in the mood to hear it. Or perhaps that was only me making excuses.

" _But maybe I'll break yours."_

"Will you stay?" I asked eventually.

He furrowed his eyebrows and ran a hand through his hair. "For how long?"

"I mean in the shelter- just for tonight," I stammered. I really did want him to stay.

He flushed. "If you want me to."

He and Jack had made me a shelter a while ago, saying that I shouldn't have to share since I was the only girl. I didn't really get the reasoning, but I wasn't about to complain about getting my own shelter. It was smaller than the others, but only had to fit one person, so was big enough to sleep in. I entered first and lay down.

He came in after what was probably really only a few seconds, rather than the hours it felt like. I couldn't see his face in the darkness, but I was still fairly certain that he was still blushing. The hut was just about large enough for us both to lie down, but even then we were squashed together.

We were both lying, facing each other in the darkness. I could just about make out a few of his features, reminding me of the night in the bathing pool. I instinctively reached for his hand, unsure of why, as it seemed to contradict everything I'd been trying to do. He smiled and began tracing his thumb around my hand.

"What did the beast look like?" I asked eventually.

"I didn't see it, really- it was mostly Jack. I just saw its silhouette. It was large and dark, but silhouettes tend to be I suppose…" he answered embarrassedly.

"But you're sure it was a beast?" I implored.

He nodded. "I'm sure."

"Okay," I whispered. "I believe you."

* * *

I woke up to loud banging on the makeshift door and saw Ralph, already awake and dutifully guarding the entrance.

"What are you doing?" I blurted, scrunching up my nose.

He looked to the ground muttering something incoherently, before looking up and clearing his throat. "Jack's not happy."

When _was_ Jack happy?

"What's happened now?" I asked with a wry smile.

Ralph began to answer, but there was another bang and Jack was shouting something, so I couldn't hear anything that'd been said. I got up and put my mouth to the door. "Jack, would you go away for a while? We're busy."

He pounded on the door again, sending me backwards with the impact. "Busy doing what?"

I turned to Ralph, who quietly filled me in.

"He woke me up a while ago hitting at the door," he whispered. "I don't know how he figured out I was here, but he was shouting to let him in- didn't say why." He gave a sardonic smile. "You're a deep sleeper- he was banging on for ages."

"What does he even want?" I whispered, too loudly, as Jack shouted a response.

"I want you to open the door!"

"What for?" I shouted back.

Ralph pulled me away from the door and covered my mouth with his hand. I shot him a look, but he just shook his head with a silent laugh.

"Open the damn door!"

Ralph and I were silent, but Jack continued to shout until there was finally silence. Ralph uncovered my mouth and I immediately burst out into a fit of giggles. Truthfully, I didn't even know why we were keeping him out; it felt like a game. It could've been something I'd have played with my cousins when I was little. I wasn't really thinking about the consequences of making Jack angry- neither was Ralph, it seemed, who was laughing just as hard as I was.

I looked at him and squinted my eyes as I noticed a stray strand of hair sticking up from his head. I raised my arm and smoothed it out. I felt my hand lingering on his hair. He looked puzzled, but I didn't feel able to pull my hand away. He was leaning in, and before I knew it, so was I. Our lips were inches apart when a loud thud made us both jolt backwards. He stumbled forwards and I let out a sharp cry as his head collided with mine.

"What are you doing in there?" It was Jack again.

Ralph murmured an apology while I answered Jack. "Nothing!"

There was more pounding on the door, and I figured out that Roger was with him.

"Should we just let them in?" I asked with a sigh.

He shook his head fervidly, but in a matter of seconds the door was falling to the ground. Ralph's arms were moving around my waist protectively, but I quickly pushed him away and distanced myself. We didn't need Jack getting even angrier, he was already a loose cannon.

Jack strutted in with Roger trailing behind. "What's this?" he smirked, looking at both of us as if examining evidence.

"I told you," I shrugged. "Nothing."

Roger was as looming and silent as always; his face the epitome of disgruntled dissatisfaction.

"None of your business anyway," Ralph countered. "First proper sleep I've had in ages and you woke me up."

"Sorry to interrupt your beauty sleep," Jack scoffed.

It was almost humorous seeing Ralph and Jack trying to be threatening in the confines of my shelter, where we were all uncomfortably jammed together.

"What do you two want?" I glared, addressing them both but knowing only Jack would answer.

"Why was Ralph sleeping in here?" he asked.

I could see Ralph tensing and had to fight the urge to move back beside him. Ironically, I was probably sitting the closest to Roger.

I didn't want to say that I'd asked him to sleep here; I wanted to seem indifferent. I didn't want to split up.

"You're being infantile," I snapped.

"Wots that mean?"

I bit my lip. Insulting him probably wasn't the best way to go. "Means handsome- do you wanna go on a walk?" I asked quickly.

"I'm _being_ handsome?" he snorted. "Alright. I'll walk."

He took my hand and led me out before I could even say goodbye to Ralph. Probably for the best.

I swatted his hand away when we were out, but he didn't seem bothered.

 _So why were you so eager to get into the shelter?_ I wanted to ask, but to be frank; I didn't have the guts. He started to talk pretty quickly anyways.

"We're breaking off today," he announced. "I'm thinking at night- more dramatic, you know?"

"Today? Isn't that a little soon?" I stammered, biting my lip until I could taste blood.

He smirked. "Nah- It'll be fine. Anyway, I was thinking, even if no-one else joins, I don't care. I have my two best friends and you," he gave an innocent smile. "I don't care about anybody else anyway."

"Jack, I don't think I can-"

I stopped talking when Roger jogged up to us, standing beside Jack and glaring at me. I had an almost irresistible urge to stick out my tongue at him.

"When are we splitting off?" he asked, obviously knowing that it was today.

"Tonight," Jack answered curtly, for once seeming like he didn't want Roger around.

"Can Ralph join?" I asked suddenly, looking to both of them.

Roger stifled a laugh and a look of hurt flashed across Jack's features before quickly dissolving. "Wouldn't that defeat the whole point?" Jack smirked.

"I thought you just wanted to lead- why does Ralph need to be completely out of the picture?"

He paused for a moment. "He would try to take over again."

I shook my head. "No he wouldn't."

"How would you know?" Roger glared.

The thing was, I didn't know. On the contrary, I didn't believe that Ralph would ever step down. "I would convince him," I answered, feigning confidence.

Then it was Jack's turn to glare. "He likes you," he stated eventually. "He would try and take you too."

I wanted to protest and say that nobody could 'take me' because I wasn't anyone's, but I just didn't have the energy. Jack quickly changed the subject to something more to his taste; how we would convince everyone to join him. Maurice joined us and we retreated to the forest to come up with a plan. I barely talked, but I was always listening.

* * *

Jack stormed past Ralph, ignoring all of his questions. He marched along the beach until he reached the conch, which he picked up and blew violently about five times. Roger and I clumsily followed behind him, with an unamused Ralph trailing behind us.

The boys gathered in the triangle around Jack, curious as to what the meeting was about, or more importantly why it wasn't Ralph calling it. Roger moved away from me the first chance he got, and his place was filled by Ralph.

"Where were you?" he whispered. "Did anything happen?" His tender eyes were filled with concern as he took in my dishevelled hair and the blood and dirt which covered my face. I didn't reply, but squeezed his hand for support. I dreaded what was coming. I didn't want to leave; but I didn't want to stay either.

"There's a beast," Jack stated dramatically. "We know that for certain. Me, Roger and Ralph saw it last night. I wanted to fight it, but Ralph ran away."

"You ran too!" Ralph shouted indignantly.

"You haven't got the conch!" Jack mocked. "Ralph ran and now the beast's struck." He paused for effect. There were nervous mutterings and panicked shouts from the crowd, mostly from bigguns as the littluns didn't seem to understand what was being said.

"Whatdoya mean it struck?!" an anonymous voice asked.

"Maurice is dead," Jack uttered plainly. "We found his body- his head was smashed in. The beast is the only explanation." There were gasps of horror, but everyone was too shocked to speak, so Jack smoothly continued. "All because Ralph ran. If he'd stuck his ground like I'd wanted to, Maurice would still be alive."

"He's dead?" Ralph gulped.

He wasn't. It'd been Roger's idea to get people to join. I'd protested and said that if anyone _did_ join, then surely they would see Maurice was alive and unharmed, but nobody would listen.

Jack ignored him. "I don't want to live under a coward's rule. He doesn't care about you; just himself and his fat friend," he spat, glaring at Piggy, who gulped fearfully. He grabbed my hand, the one Ralph wasn't holding. I raised an eyebrow in shock, but when I was about to chastise him, his terror-stricken expression softened me and I offered him a small smile.

Maurice was at Castle Rock, waiting for Jack and whoever would follow him. The plan was for Maurice to make a dramatic entrance the next morning claiming that he'd narrowly escaped the beast, but had been badly hurt in the process. Roger had volunteered to cut his leg. I doubted anyone would believe them. _How could anyone as stupid as Maurice escape the beast?_

"So I'm making my own tribe," Jack announced. "One without stupid rules about _shells._ One where I don't favour anybody. One where I'll protect you. One where we won't run from fear; we'll face it."

He was crazy. He was bonkers. He was convincing. Every word he said was appealing. I knew it was wrong, but he said all the right things. I looked to the faces of the others and saw that they were thinking the same. I looked to Ralph, his face was wearing the same hardened expression he always did when trying to hide his emotions. It was odd the little characteristics I'd picked up on without really realising it.

"Who's with me?!"

Silence.

Not the cheering Jack'd been expecting. Most looked frightened. We all knew a split wasn't good for anyone; we were weaker apart than together.

Ralph squeezed my hand tighter.

Roger stepped forward silently. Everyone else was still.

"Jack calm down," Ralph reasoned. "We need to stay together. We have a better chance of killing the beast when we're together- not if the group's split in half."

"Audrey?" Jack muttered, urging me to step forwards. He pulled Piggy away from me, detaching our hands, but Ralph pulled me backwards.

"Don't go with him," he beseeched. I looked into his eyes, feeling as if I could cry. His eyes were the green of the grass that pushed through the eternal snow in winter, reminding you that spring would come, reminding you that there was still good- still hope.

I pulled my hand from his, never breaking our gaze. I couldn't stay. He was one of the onlygoodthings left on the island; I didn't want to ruin that.

"You don't have to listen to him," Jack crowed, stepping between us. I nodded solemnly, then moved to stand beside Roger.

"What?" Piggy bleated. "You can't just _leave."_

I didn't know why he cared. We didn't like each other.

Ralph rushed over to me, almost running. "Don't do this. I get it if you don't want to be like that with me- I shouldn't have asked. You won't break my heart if you stay- you will if you leave," he lamented in a voice so low that only I could hear.

Nevertheless, Jack got the gist of what he was saying and pushed Roger and I forwards, glaring at Ralph threatingly.

A few bigguns shamefully shambled along towards Jack; I noticed Walter, Bill and a few who's faces I knew but names I didn't.

"Anyone who wants to is welcome to join us," Jack smiled, oddly satisfied with the small number of recruits he'd gained. "Except for Ralph, that is," he added with a smirk, retreating into the jungle with his new tribe in tow.


End file.
